South Anna 1/6 Trip Report - swimming in the hometown river

[cincorswim]

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to write this. I'm just now able to move around. Seriously, I've been quite sore from my First Swim, or I should say, First Dance with Mother Nature, and am just now feeling better.

I knew I was in for it when I told so and so in the open boat that since his boat got stuck and he had to get out to unstick-it, he had to write the trip report. Not so.

It was probably a half hour or so after that when I lost my line. My line is Grannyaker and since she is a boater with such elegance, I've taken to following her at a safe distance. This time, I let the current take me and so Grannyaker was behind me. And here my troubles began.

Out of nowhere appeared a massive rock that I was heading straight toward. I tried to get around it in my stable boat at the last minute. Not the boat's fault, of course, but I hit it broadside. Or the rock hit me. Whatever. Then I planted my paddle in the shallow waters and leaned toward the sky. Next I flipped.

It was scary. For those of you still reading, I didn't panic but an interesting thing happened. When I went to pull my skirt, I came out of the boat. I never pulled it. Does that happen often? Should I get a tighter skirt? Is it even a problem? (Feel free to highjack the thread.)

Thanks to the wonderful folks on the trip, especially YOAD, Grannyaker, Barb, and Matt for helping me out. I wish I could remember the names of everyone else but all I remember is seeing a lot of brown water and my body hitting a bunch of rocks.

And here's my pitch for Save Our Streams (sosva.com). We saw a couple of turtles on The Banks of the South Anna.

Here's a pic. . . Name that kayaker. . .

Cindy

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"Surfing not Surging"

[guy66]

It was scary. For those of you still reading, I didn't panic but an interesting thing happened. When I went to pull my skirt, I came out of the boat. I never pulled it. Does that happen often? Should I get a tighter skirt? Is it even a problem? (Feel free to highjack the thread.)

I would have to say NO, it is not supposed to happen. You might need to get a tighter skirt.
The Monster can tell you all about loose skirts and getting sucked out of a boat.

[jules]

I thought that was you out there that day waving! Sorry - it didn't occur to me until later.

Glad to hear all is well now & I agree with Guy - your skirt should not fail like that. What boat do you paddle?

[billh1970]

No, you are not supposed to be able to get out of the boat without popping the skirt, however I had a skirt like that for about 6 years until it wore out. It didn't cause any trouble until the loose skirt was replaced with a tighter one that fit correctly that I couldn't wiggle out of.

I usually wiggled out of the boat without popping the loose skirt. When trying to wiggle out of the tighter skirt, it usually didn't work out vey well. I had a scary time on the Ocoee when trying to wiggle out of the tight fitting skirt. My foot was caught and couldn't get out of the boat. Habits are hard to break especially when in a semi traumatic experience like punching out of a boat.

[Gerry]

Cool trip report.

Ditto, not supposed to happen.

Mountain surf (not bungee) and Wildwasser regular skirts are the best that I know and never had any problem with. Snapdragon works very well too and is easy to use.

Check out this mountain surf fit guide;

http://www.mountainsurf.com/spray_fit.html

More importantly than a loose skirt; make sure your grabloop is securely fastened to the skirt before each trip so you know you can get out if your roll fails.

Gerry

[cincorswim]

I KNEW I saw you that day, Julie. Your pink helmet gave it away.

Are you the boater in the pic? That helmet looks yellow.

cin

[guy66]

The boater in the pic looks kinda like Shrek or JR to me