[trjim]

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