April Paddle

For April I convinced Mr. Shaw to join us on the Saint.  He got a loaner boat from the Alpine Shop and off we went.  The boat had never been in the water.

In order to give him time to get familiar with it we put in at Fisherman's and took our time heading to the pavilion, working on stuff along the way.  The plan was to eddy out on river left prior to Big Drop so that we could portage Zack around it.  As I was positioning myself for the portage Zack got hung up on a rock and went for a swim.

Thankfully we had practiced exits during pool time, so he was out quickly.  He was so cold that he stayed on the rocky bank with semi-wet clothes, food, and an emergency blanket.  Mr. Shaw and I took off.

Mr. Shaw went for a swim at the end of Big Drop and he finally got to the bank just above Cat's Paw.  I tried to get his boat to the shore, but missed.  The boat got sucked down the left side and I went right.  I caught up with the boat at the bottom of Cat's Paw on river left, but he was on river right.  I took the boat over to him and off we went.

Things went smoothly until the dam breach.  He was almost through and got a bit sideways at the bottom end and over he went. 

One more swim near fat man's squeeze finished the day. 

When we got back to Zack he was still on the rock wrapped in the emergency blanket.  All the food had been eaten and he had talked to Charles who stopped on his way down the river.

Later this month we'll head back to the Saint for the MWA clinic.