To read part thirteen of day five, click here.

Paddling is hard work. Just sayin’. 🙂

Jen and I started out in the back, behind everyone else. Not for long! With Jen in the back steering us, we went almost completely straight. I felt bad for everyone else. They were turning back and forth, sometimes even turning in a complete circle. But Jen and I shot straight across the lake, and as a result we were the first ones over there.

It felt pretty awesome to be the first there. I wished we hadn’t won by so much, but it was nice to be “the best” in my crew for a moment. And I put that in quotation marks because I wasn’t the best – it was only the fact that I had an instructor in my boat.

I hoped that none of my crewmates would resent me for getting so far ahead of them. We were still getting to know each other, and I didn’t know how they would react to me being at the far side of the lake before some of them had even made the half way point.

The first canoes started to get within talking distance and we started congratulating each other. Everyone in those canoes was all “Great job, Brett!” which made me feel a lot better. Everyone that is, except Luke. He said “Great job, Dora!” which made me laugh.

While I was on my trip, I pretended to be offended when anyone called me Dora. I actually liked it – I felt like I belonged better with a nickname.

The entire trip, I was struggling with insecurity. I was the smallest, the weakest, the most sheltered. I was the only one who didn’t curse, I was the only one who didn’t go to public school. They didn’t listen to the same music as I did, they didn’t read the same books. We had nothing in common, and it scared me. I didn’t know how to act around kids who were so different from me.

So yeah, having a nick name made me feel better. I don’t know why it made me feel better, but it did.

Once everyone was on this side of the lake, we went back again. And once again, Jen and I were first. I was still worrying about how my crewmates would react, but it’s not like I could slow down while I was paddling. If I tried to slow down, Jen would say “C’mon Brett, go faster!””

It was around this time that Jen started taking pictures.

Waiting for the rest of the canoes to get to us.

Bruce and Bobby in their canoe on the lake.

Click here to read the next part of Day Five.

*Everything here is from my own memory and may not be correct. Outward Bound is not responsible for anything I post here. Thanks too NCOBS for letting me use their photos.*