Coastals

At Cemetery. We were trying to stay on river right to keep in the sunshine. I didn't know there was a giant hole in there. I found it all by myself. Held a stern squirt for a while. Finally flopped over then started taking whaps on the noggin. My neck will not be happy tomorrow. For the record, I've already moved the seat forward again.

3 crazy Daves on the river. That is definitely the coldest I have ever run the James in Richmond.

We came all the way from Pony too!

That is a big hole on that side!

It was an epic battle of man vs river.... At first I thought to myself,"wow I did not know david was so skilled at stern squirting", but quickly realized that something was funny when he started cartwheeling... After that his boat was upside bad-side and was being bumped around pretty ferociously, soon after he pulled, popped up, and was down steam where I could help him. Wallace gave it a fight of a lifetime, and I thought he was going to pull it out multiple occasions. I went right of the hole and did not think about it being trouble until the next eddy, so I was not in a close enough position to offer up a T. I am glad he did not get recirced in the hole more than he did, because we woulda been helpless.

Lessons learned on this cold winter rescue??
1. Be more aware of potential hazards around you and not just in you path, think about people following you and where they might wander, catch the closest eddy to the feature to set in boat safety for the rest of the group.
2. When paddling with only three people maybe a leap frog method of paddling would be more safety conscious than the strait line method, because its easy to let some space form between boats when paddling in a strait line
3. Although we did a decent job getting him and his gear to shore, dave still spent a fair amount of time in the water, and I feel we could have been a little more efficient at that.
4. Never underestimate the river, we had all paddled together on multiple occasions on this river(maybe not that rapid), and are well aware of each other skills. I feel safe paddling with both of you guys, but sometimes the river has other plans and we must be ready for them. Lucky for us, this was a very minor incident and served as some good practice and a valuable lesson in the importance of thinking safe while having fun on the river.

I'd rather set an example than be one.

Tough choice in that situation at these water levels especially since you only have a few seconds to decide. It's got significant ledges and underwater boulders to bash into so the choices were not good there. You could stay in the boat, attempt a roll and risk bashing over ledges or into boulders (read: separated/dislocated something). You could swim and face the recirc and cold water exposure. Glad to read you (relatively) ended up okay. Post an update on your neck. I hope it's doing okay.

Neal