Safely tying in gear, and storing lines

[Glenn MacGrady]

Link worked for me. Good video. Enjoyed the Aaron Copeland and other music.

Wow, 30 years ago. I was then in my whitewater prime. Ran the Cheat Canyon at a very high level for open boaters that spring as well as the New River gorge and Tygart in West Virginia, and then moved to Florida for a year to teach at FSU. That was the beginning of the end for my canoe club, as others began to drift away too.

High quality rapid at the end. Kathleen made a nice recovery from a lost-my-grip brace. The guy in the yellow PFD looked like a confident boater.

 

[Big Al]

... and Tygart in West Virginia,

I did my first and only wet exit from tent into the Tygart River. I was camped along the Tygart in a field on a caving weekend. The river was high but we were watching the bank closely. It appeared it would need to rise a at least 6 inches before it would crest the bank when I checked it before bed. Around 2 am I heard shouts and a lot of commotion. I got out of my tent into ankle deep water. Within five minutes it was knee deep. Apparently the stream bank was lower up river and the river crested and started flowing through the fields. It was very exciting. We pitched all the gear we could into the bed of my truck and drove to higher ground near the hard road and then went back to help others. Not everyone was so lucky we lost one car that we could not get started. The next morning it was windshield deep.

 

[PaddlingPitt]

Link worked for me. Good video. Enjoyed the Aaron Copeland and other music.



High quality rapid at the end. Kathleen made a nice recovery from a lost-my-grip brace. The guy in the yellow PFD looked like a confident boater.

The guy in the yellow PFD was Alex Jack. A whitewater instructor, and a mainstay of the Beaver Canoe Club. But confidence can be fleeting. Our club did an annual Labour Day trip to the Adams River, primarily to challenge the Adams Canyon. Very big water, with calmer water at the end, where swimmers and boats could be gathered up. I would estimate that about a third of the boats capsized going through, every time. People could sit on the Canyon rim to view and enjoy the carnage.

One year a large boil welled up beneath Alex’s boat, and over he went. Also went down, and took longer to resurface than he liked. Never paddled again. Same thing happened to Jerry, another very strong paddler in our club on the Tulameen River. Took a very long swim, and never paddled again.

 

[Seeker]

I'm largely a flat water solo paddler. I used to tie everything in, but this made portages more work, so now i don't. I eventually figured out that soft packs (vs frame rucksacks) work really well in canoes, so almost everything I have goes in one of those (a 90L roll top GoLite Gust is my favorite) and/or a wannagan. I tried a thwart bag, but it's not that handy; I prefer a small daypack in which i pack lunch, raingear, water treatment, water bottle(s), sunscreen, repellent, and a sack of other stuff. The daypack has a drawstring to keep it shut, and a flap that buckles over a thwart. I can also clip it to a piece of paracord looped through the gunwale with a biner (I like one on each side, just in front of me). Water bottles either stand in my shoes (i typically like to paddle unshod) or one in the daypack and one in the water bottle pocket. Fishing gear sinks, but you have to risk that... so my rod just sort of sits next to me and i hope i don't lose it. I generally bungi it under a couple thwarts for portaging or when not in use (right hip area), or in one of those paracord loops by the handle (tip under a thwart) if i want it a little more secure. The tacklebox is a little Plano double sided one with a dummy cord. this gets looped through the gunwale at my left hip, handy for when i need to get to it, and not much bother during a short portage. during a longer one, the swinging does get irksome, and it goes in the daypack. Sometimes I have to carry a separate bag for food, or a wannagen, so that hopefully floats. But none of it gets really tied in place.

We practice over-canoe rescue at a local place i volunteer at, and i can't imagine doing it with a full canoe... you'd have to remove the gear first, either letting it float or setting it in your own canoe first.