A man's got to know his limitations

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-zzftkWbmE

FYI: Tonight the Red Mo is at 1.5 feet. 1 foot is paddle zero, and I believe 4 feet is their upper cancel limit.

Red Moshannon
 

The Red Moshannon doesn't come up on my app. Hopefully the .02 inches of rain predicted will bring it up.

Looks pretty rocky. Maybe throw the bumpers over the sides to help you bounce off the rocks! Sturdy footwear might be a good idea too!


East bound and down tomorrow morning.
Safe Travels
Keep it between the mustard and the mayo!

A missed opportunity
 

I'm sitting here Sat 11:45 am. Watching it snow. 33 deg. Getting some things together for a camping/hiking trip to far southern Ohio. Hard to get motivated.

What I'm thinking is what a great day for a canoe race! KenM

Chili Chilly Run Training
 

The club’s annual chili chilly run often prepares us for paddling in weather like today! Hope our folks did well in the Red Moshannon Race. Can’t wait to hear about it.

My Red Mo Race Review
 

My Red Mo Race Review
It was a great weekend filled with surprises left and right.

Saturday started rough for me and Jessica. As we made our way down to the put in I crossed the bridge over the creek and saw a turn around. I pulled into the little area and as I stopped the ground gave way and the front of the truck fell into a ditch leaving me at a 45 degree angle. I was unable to back out and had to get towed out.
Once that was over and we got everything unloaded and registered we got our shuttle done.

There was a bit if a wait before the race and they explained how it started with 2 minute introverts between classes.

At the Start of the race it was clear and temperature was 29 degrees.
American Whitewater gauge was 532cfs.

I learned a lot really quick. I was in the OC1 over 13ft long canoe class. When I got on the water I heard the others talking about there Kevlar & Fiberglass canoes. One guy called my scout a hog.
Plus I realized they were a lot narrower than mine canoe and a true solo canoes not a tandem canoe like mine.

My Start letter was group N which had OC1 13ft under & my OC1 13 longer. Total of 10 Canoes.

For the first four miles I was with the pack and hanging in there. I learned really quick my J stroke was to slow, had to switch to a goonie stroke with sharp corrections and side to side switching more than I normally do and I am upset with myself as it takes more energy to do that.

Then the guy behind me hit my right stern side and it spun me like a top and took me a while to recover. Now I am really behind trying to catch up.

As I was starting to get gain on him I came across a tandem canoe that flipped and one paddler floating down river unable to get to shore, I had him grab my Stern Painter and towed him to shore as rescue crews where on there way.

Then with just over a mile left I found a kayaker flipped and unable to get his kayak to shore. I used my canoe to get it to shore and get him out of the water as rescue crews were coming on 4 Wheeler's

I finished strong as I could the last mile. I have never been so exhausted after a paddle.

During the paddle we had 4 season in one event. We had cloudy skies, Sunny Skies, Rain & Blizzard whiteout Snow.

This is a great class I/II creek that I would consider a step up from Beaver Creek and a step down from the Connoquenessing Creek.

I am sorta disappointed in my time but I am glad I helped fellow paddlers and not just past them by like other paddlers did.

My over all stats
7.2 Miles
4th out of 5 paddlers in the OC1 over 13ft Canoes
1 hr and 8 minutes
Average MPH 6.1
Fasted Mile was 7.3 MPH

Good Report
 

Mike,
Thanks for the race report. Really sorry about your vehicle needing a tow right before the race. Without question you did the right thing to help fellow paddlers who flipped despite it costing you valuable time. That should be a rule for racers in my opinion. It sounds like you paddled your heart out. I’m sure al the club members who participated learned a great deal, and it will serve them well for future races. Averaging over six miles per hour, especially with the delays caused helping fellow racers, is really moving!

JP

Mike, Awesome, I've been looking forward to a trip report! Congrats to all the club members who raced, that was a very tough day. I'll bet it felt good to get warm and dry at the end of the day.

Mike is right it was great day filled with surprises. I learned many things that I will share later. First a recap of the day.

I decided not to drive out the night before. My thinking was that I would be better off sleeping well in my own bed than getting a bad nights sleep in a hotel. I woke at 4:45 am and left my house at 5:17, headed to Clearfield. I arrived around 8:30 to met Jodi, Mark, Jessica and Mike at their hotel. Jodi, Mark and I decided to take advantage of the buffet breakfast at the Moose Lodge in Grassflat. It was a real feast, I ate 4 different pork products. Is that wrong?

After breakfast we headed to the put-in to drop off our boats and gear. It was along a narrow dirt road that was very crowded and quite muddy. Jodi was kind enough to be our shuttle driver after we dropped our cars at the (again very crowded) take-out. When we got back to the starting point we had about 2 hours till race time. I spent a good part of that time checking out the vast assortment of boats. There were lots of serious boats that I knew were going to be paddled by some highly skilled racers.

I was in class K 1 Recreational kayak less than 11 feet. Our race pushed off at 12:08 pm. I found the creek to be good challenge. Lots of class 2 and 2+ sections. There was not much of an opportunity to relax. As a result fatigue could be an issue if one did a poor job of pacing themselves. I was feeling pretty good about my progress. We were several miles into the paddle and I was mid-pack in my group. Also, I mostly likely was the oldest paddler in the group. About 4/4.5 miles into the race I experienced an situation that I am still trying to figure out. I had just successfully navigated a rapid/wave train and was in relatively calm water. Suddenly my kayak rolled hard to the left and in what seemed like a blink of an eye, I was upside down. I should mention that this is the second time I have gone for a swim. However, it was the first time doing so while using a spray skirt. After a rather disorienting moment it dawned on me to pop the skirt or drown. My PFD brought me to the surface and I grabbed my boat. Now I needed to get to the creek bank. Pulling a kayak full of water out of the creek through a strong current while navigating slimy, slippery rocks in the creek bed is not easy. Luckily the race organizers had many people on the banks for such an event. One of the safety crew jump into action and assisted me getting ashore. When I hit dry land I was pretty tired. I spent about 30 minutes recovering, drying off, changing clothes (over top of my wet suit), and prepping the boat for reentry. By the time I got back in the boat I was one of the back markers. I finished without any further issues I had two goals: stay dry and avoid being last. I am happy to report I failed at both of these goals. Actually I was on the water for about 1:15 minutes which is decent time. Dumping your boat really takes you out of the race.

Lessons learned.

I should have driven out the night before. Driving 2:15 in the dark is not the way to arrive feeling fresh.

I put on too many clothes overtop of my wet suit. The temp was around 30 degrees and I was concerned about getting too cold. The suit does a good job of keeping you warm. In fact once I started to exert myself I was too warm. Another consideration is to think about how heavy your outer clothes will become if you take a swim. I was wearing nylon pants with a polyester lining. When I got to shore I could really feel their weight. My guess is that wet they were 10 to 15 pounds. This could be one the reason trying to get to shore was so difficult. Also if you wear a stocking cap under your helmet make sure it can't flop down over your eyes if wet. I can assure you being blind while trying to exit the water is not helpful. One more thing. When you are paddling hard you will be breathing heavily. That means when you go under you need to react quickly, you will not be able to hold your breathe for long.

As a retired educator I know the importance of learning from your mistakes. In the learning process mistakes are teaching opportunities. The lessons learned from failure are the lessons that last a lifetime. The first time I took a swim I know exactly what I did wrong. I under estimated the current and over estimated my ability to get my boat to where it needed to be. The result was getting to close to a tree in the river and being flipped by a submerged branch. I will never make that mistake again. I can't figure out what happened this time. I have a couple thoughts as to why I ended up in the water. I am going run those thoughts by some of our more experienced paddlers to see if they can shed some light on my sudden roll over.

Overall it was quite a day. Did I mention that on the way home I drove through several whiteouts on Interstate 80? Would I do it again? Yes. I am already thinking about next year.

Jim

Just a guess...
 

Thanks for the very interesting race report, Jim. Lots of good observations and lessons learned. You are to be commended for shaking off the spill, regrouping, and finishing the race...not easy to do when the air and water were so cold.

This is just a guess about why you flipped based on the account in your report. I suspect you may have flipped in an eddy either because you were leaning in the wrong direction, i.e. up current, in the eddy or because the current of the eddy forced your paddle underneath your boat which, in turn, caused you lean up current far enough to flip. Current in an eddy next to the river’s main current flows upstream and sometimes it’s easy to overlook that. And some eddy currents can be strong enough to flip an unsuspecting paddler if they lean up current. Just a possibility to consider.

JP