Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Paddling to Freedom.

Dieter escaped from East Germany with his friend in a double Klepper folding kayak. The two were out kayaking one day, when suddenly Dieter was being soaked by each waving hitting up against there kayak. Dieter was getting severely sick, and was constantly vomiting over the side of the kayak. Dieter and his friend had to paddle with very much strength to pull the wooden blade through the icy black water before vomiting yet again. Other stretches of the coast were filled with different security patrols making its way to the Polish Border. Some islands even had security controls imposed upon them. The two men tried tunnels, secret compartments in vehicles, hot air balloons and many more, but his effort was a scheme to escape across the border. The two men had a plan, at night time, he would climb up into the open-topped water tank at a watering railroad stop right just inside the border. Waiting hours for an approaching train was risky on several accounts, the least of which was dying from hypothermia. Dieter spent many nights waiting in the ice cold water tank waiting for trains to come by, but never did. Dieter ended up being so ill that his paddling partner had to do most of the paddling. The two covered over 80 miles in twelve hours.. Which means, six and a half miles in an hours..

This article actually does affect me. I think it affects me because people shouldn't have to be out there doing this kind of stuff. If you want to go canoeing or kayaking, do so. Not in the East of Germany, where people haven't come out alive because of the things that go on in there. You shouldn't have to hangout in a water tank for nights just waiting for a train. I learnt that if I want to canoe or kayak, not to go with Dieter and his friend. Or to even go close to dangerous waters like they did. This article inspired me a lot because they actually came out alive. At the beginning of the article I didn't think they would. Once Dieter got severely sick I definitely didn't think they would. But i'm glad they did. And I'm really happy that they didn't give up. That basically just proved to me that you don't need to give up, you need to believe in yourself and the people your with, because you can do it. I would give this article four stars out of five.
By; Tom Watson

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