David’s story of the Gap Colorado certainly brings back the nightmares for me. I remember the day so well and David’s vivid description only serves to make it more real and terrifying. What excitement we all shared as we jumped into those raging rapids as a team and then suddenly you were one. The seething boiling flood waters were rushing at various speeds of danger. There was die-really-quickly speed all the way down to drown-really-slowly speed. Enough to say, that the variant speeds soon ensured that we all lost sight of each other within seconds of entering the water. It was truly every frightened boy for himself. A few things stood out for me that day. One was to always keep your bum level with the underside of the tube as you came in contact with the gannet boulders that were strewn along the creek bed. You only had to hit one of them at full speed once to learn that lesson. The second experience I remember from that day was as David describes the strange straight water line. At this point in the creek the water finally slowed to a speed that you could at least think and reason a little. I actually remember having enough time to look at this strange water formation and ask myself questions of what it could be. I think I did work it out as my tire and I went tipping over a 3 meter high waterfall. Finally, the Bancroft thing was a real worry. David had stopped on the bank and began calling everyone in as we raced past him. All were accounted for except Bancroft. His float went past but he didn’t! Well that was it – everyone rushed back along the creek bed trying to call out his name louder than the noise of the crayoning crashing water. What a relief when we saw him alive in the middle of the sea of brown furious waves. He was sitting like a monkey halfway up on a bent over stapling barely strong enough to hold his weight. Still, as flimsy as this life preserver was, it was obvious he was not about to let it go in a hurry. As David went upstream to execute a plan of rescue I yelled out to him about what he was up to. In typical Bancroft fashion he yelled back just waiting for the tide to go out.
See also related story by [Dave]
