OK Kessmann, here it is. Lower James, Sun 5/4
Posted: Mon May 07, 2007 6:36 pm
6.8 feet and pretty warm water thankfully.
It was pretty warm so a good day for roll practice, squirting and flopping about.
Marshall and I paddled out to squirt rock, river left of corner. After a few rounds there I realized how tired I was because I had boated pretty hard the day before, and I'm old. I flipped on my last round, missed a roll and washed a little further down than usual. Made my second roll and instead of attaining back up to the eddy and ferrying to run Corner I decided to just drift down and drop through on of the slots below Squirt Rock as I had done many times before.
Below Squirt rock, there is a large boulder to river right. To the left of this there are two slots. The one immediately to the left of the boulder is the smallest and the one I decided to take. When I got to the slot I noticed a barely submerged rock directly in the center. I angled my boat to try and squeeze by but pitoned pretty hard. Instinctively I raised my knees and lifted the front of the boat to get over the piton rock. Unfortunately it worked, my stern caught and I pinned vertically, facing the sky, with my head just above water.
It was a solid pin. I could see Marshall below me and Andy standing on the bank and knew neither would be able to get to me. To anyone up stream I was not visible. I waved and threw my paddle toward Marshall. I thought about it for about 30 seconds and calmly pulled my skirt and loosened the ratchets.
I knew it would be difficult to get out considering my position but I decided to do it anyway. I pushed on the combing and was out to my knees. At this point the current caught my back and shoulders (cause they're so big ya know) and pushed me sideways, pushing my head under water and bending my knees sideways so I couldn't get out of the boat.
I must have been only about 4 to 6 inches under because I could still see light and rocks. I furiously did crunches (for lack of a better description) and only twice managed to break the surface and get a very short breath. After mentally cursing whatever supreme being there may be for being such a poke at a time in my life that most resembles being moderately happy, I decided I would dislocate my knee if necessary to get out of my now not so beloved Pyranha S6. Thankfully due years of yoga and truck stop jobs my knees were flexible enough to bend sideways without snapping off. After pushing like expectant mother trying to birth a full grown human I managed to extricate myself from the boat and some how stand (thus not a swim). Good thing too because I'm not scheduled to get my DNR tattoo until Thursday so no one would have known and I would have ended up a giant, bloated, sea cucumber with Grey cilia.
It took three of us to get the boat out. My knee is swollen and bruised. My elbow is not functioning quite right and I feel like I've been beaten with a bat, but I managed not to become another drop in the ocean of souls.
Thanks to everyone that helped. Especially Andy who assured me that had I drowned he would have driven my body to the Green Narrows and dumped it to spare me the embarrassment of drowning in a 12 inch pour over on the James.
Paddle on Brother!!!
It was pretty warm so a good day for roll practice, squirting and flopping about.
Marshall and I paddled out to squirt rock, river left of corner. After a few rounds there I realized how tired I was because I had boated pretty hard the day before, and I'm old. I flipped on my last round, missed a roll and washed a little further down than usual. Made my second roll and instead of attaining back up to the eddy and ferrying to run Corner I decided to just drift down and drop through on of the slots below Squirt Rock as I had done many times before.
Below Squirt rock, there is a large boulder to river right. To the left of this there are two slots. The one immediately to the left of the boulder is the smallest and the one I decided to take. When I got to the slot I noticed a barely submerged rock directly in the center. I angled my boat to try and squeeze by but pitoned pretty hard. Instinctively I raised my knees and lifted the front of the boat to get over the piton rock. Unfortunately it worked, my stern caught and I pinned vertically, facing the sky, with my head just above water.
It was a solid pin. I could see Marshall below me and Andy standing on the bank and knew neither would be able to get to me. To anyone up stream I was not visible. I waved and threw my paddle toward Marshall. I thought about it for about 30 seconds and calmly pulled my skirt and loosened the ratchets.
I knew it would be difficult to get out considering my position but I decided to do it anyway. I pushed on the combing and was out to my knees. At this point the current caught my back and shoulders (cause they're so big ya know) and pushed me sideways, pushing my head under water and bending my knees sideways so I couldn't get out of the boat.
I must have been only about 4 to 6 inches under because I could still see light and rocks. I furiously did crunches (for lack of a better description) and only twice managed to break the surface and get a very short breath. After mentally cursing whatever supreme being there may be for being such a poke at a time in my life that most resembles being moderately happy, I decided I would dislocate my knee if necessary to get out of my now not so beloved Pyranha S6. Thankfully due years of yoga and truck stop jobs my knees were flexible enough to bend sideways without snapping off. After pushing like expectant mother trying to birth a full grown human I managed to extricate myself from the boat and some how stand (thus not a swim). Good thing too because I'm not scheduled to get my DNR tattoo until Thursday so no one would have known and I would have ended up a giant, bloated, sea cucumber with Grey cilia.
It took three of us to get the boat out. My knee is swollen and bruised. My elbow is not functioning quite right and I feel like I've been beaten with a bat, but I managed not to become another drop in the ocean of souls.
Thanks to everyone that helped. Especially Andy who assured me that had I drowned he would have driven my body to the Green Narrows and dumped it to spare me the embarrassment of drowning in a 12 inch pour over on the James.
Paddle on Brother!!!
