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Old 12-02-2010, 08:45 PM   #2
clipper1
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Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Madison, on the Grand River
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Default embarrassing paddling situations

I wish I had your memory JP, and I suppose maybe my memory is more selective where all things unpleasent are forgotten, especially on the water.

Two years ago I was invited to maine, to paddle with Friend, and part owner of Lincoln Canoe & Kayak Marc Bourgion. Marc had selected a small, but amazingly difficult river near his home called the Sheepscot. Marc had been a maine guide for twenty something years, and this was his home river; I did not want to get too far behind. Not fifty yards from our starting point, we entered an old mill race that emptied into an eddy with huge granite strainers. The river had twice the flow as my home river, and it picked up a lot more speed in the mill race. Just as I hit the eddy, I noticed Marc had gotten pinned between two large granite rocks that were my only escape through the eddy. Try as I might, all I could do was turn my canoe sideways before I rammed him, as there was no stopping. We both went for a swim in the spring fed Sheepscot, not to mention it was the third week of October.
I had followed Marc to close and we both paid; novice and Guide.
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