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  • From: bob ford <bobford79 AT yahoo.com>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Primitive Technology Living
  • Date: Sat, 18 Oct 2008 23:30:27 -0700 (PDT)

And, you learned the most important lesson of all; keep an extra pack of
smokes and a lighter in a waterproof floatable .....bobford


--- On Sun, 10/19/08, EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net> wrote:

> From: EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>
> Subject: Re: [Homestead] Primitive Technology Living
> To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Date: Sunday, October 19, 2008, 12:14 AM
> eureka AT hctc.net wrote:
>
> > I mostly taught river reading and (rolling) self and
> buddy rescues
> > for kayakers.
>
> We have use of a kayak. DH, DD, and SIL got in it, not me.
> Bev knows
> when to fish and when not to float. <g> SIL tried 6
> times to roll, so
> we had a good laugh. I've got some great pics of that
> day. Anyway,
> have since heard that you have to have your head on the
> deck to get
> over, then twist your hips. I know it is one of those
> things that is
> easier said than done, but is that the trick, having your
> head down?
>
> >
> > Once, when I was truly young and stupid, before I
> learned to paddle,
> > I was sucked off a tube without a life jacket into a
> hydraulic and
> > rescued by a drunk accountant. I know what it feels
> like to be
> > tumbled like clothes in a washing machine. It seemed
> like I was in
> > there forever. It was so aerated I couldn't tell
> up from down until I
> > would get smashed on the rocky bottom. I thought I was
> going to
> > drown.
>
> Jeez, I can just imagine how scared you must have been.
>
>
> >
> > More recently, about five years ago, when I should
> have known better,
> > I put on the Nantahalla River in NC late in the day
> with a friend
> > thinking I could boat scout the 27 Class II-III rapids
> of which I new
> > nothing about. This is where the U.S. Olmpic team
> practices.
>
> Sage, that is only about 2 hours from my house. Next time
> you are out
> this way, give me a shout. There are a lot of good
> whitewater rivers
> around here. I'm a Class I girl myself.
>
>
>
>
> This trip taught me
> > a big lesson about knowing the weather. About a third
> of the way into
> > the trip the temperature changed and a dense fog
> settled on us. I had
> > never experienced such a thing. We might as well have
> been blind
> > folded! The canyon was too steep to exit and you could
> hear the
> > rapids coming. I am suprised we lived through it.
>
> Ah...the Smokies..yeah, I know. Fog moves in quickly in
> those
> mountains..I haven't been down that part, but I have
> heard about it.
>
>
> > How did you break your arm on the river trip? I have
> not heard this
> > story.
>
> May of 2006 DH decides he wants to build canoe, but has
> never paddled.
> Bev decides we need to rent a canoe so that he can learn to
> paddle and
> decide if it is something he likes to do.
> On vacation-a camping trip no less, instead of going with
> plan A, which
> was rent a canoe at the lake, we go with plan B, which was
> to take a 14
> mile-6 hour trek down the Elk River in TN. Now this is a
> slow,
> flatwater river normally, but it had rained the week
> before, so it was
> faster than usual. Also, we had never been there before,
> had no
> knowledge of the river, had no guide, no companions, only
> me and DH and
> our paddles and our lunch. I had not been in a canoe in 20
> years, DH
> had never been in a canoe. In 14 river miles, we never saw
> another
> person after the drop off...no sign of civilization..only
> wildlife.
> Despite the mishap, it was beautiful and I can recommend
> this trip.
> So we have been paddling 2.5 hours, kind of getting hungry,
> hoping to
> find a shoal to lunch upon. We are paddling from one side
> to another, I
> am the bow paddler, looking out for rocks and depth, etc.
> Ahead, I see
> a strainer, and there is a little fall about 8" high.
> The opening we
> need to shoot through is about 12 feet wide. There are
> logs and debris
> on both sides of the opening. I could see that we were not
> lined up and
> we miscommunicated, sending the bow into the log on the
> left side of the
> opening. We were stuck parallel to the current and
> perpendicular to
> the fall. Before I could tell DH what to do to get us off
> the log, he
> put the paddle in the water and we dislodged just enough to
> kick the
> back end around. We went over the little spillway
> backwards at about a
> 45 degree angle, and the drop twisted the boat in such a
> way that I was
> propelled out of the bow and into the log jam with such a
> force that my
> arm was caught in the debris. Luckily, it was not deep and
> the current
> was slow enough for me to be able to get to my feet and
> remove myself.
> DH got dumped, too, but into the water. He caught the
> canoe and righted
> it and helped me to the bank. There was a shoal about 3x5
> that we stood
> on, shivering our butts off, to take inventory and recover.
> Lunch was
> no good..cigarettes were wet. My arm turned blue instantly
> and started
> swelling..I had a huge hematoma on my bicep..I should post
> the
> pictures..lol..maybe I will...I had other scrapes and
> wounds, but the
> arm was the worst. I took off my overshirt and wrapped it
> around my arm
> to act as an icebag(the water was still cold that year).
> So there we
> were, the banks were too steep to climb out and we
> couldn't just leave
> the canoe. We had no phone, no way to get help. The only
> thing we
> could do is paddle out, so after standing on that shoal for
> about 20
> minutes until I settled down and regained control(and
> sharing the one
> cigarette that we decided we could try to smoke- you laugh,
> but that
> smoke was like morphine for the pain), we got back in the
> canoe and
> headed down the river. There was one other time that we
> almost did the
> same thing again-but we got lucky. By the time we got off
> the river,
> over three hours later, my arm was huge and I was in shock.
> I did not
> realize it, but now I know that is what it was. We went to
> the nearest
> town and hit a CVS for bandages and neosporin and such, and
> in the drug
> store, I was in such bad shape that the pharmacist actually
> came out and
> asked me if I needed assistance. They helped me get what I
> needed and
> get back to the car. We should have gone to the hospital,
> but no...we
> were on vacation, and I could move my arm so I thought it
> was just a bad
> bruise. We get back to the campground and I went to bed..
> We ended up cutting our vacation short and coming home, but
> that
> happened on a Thursday, I think, and I did not get to the
> doctor until
> Tuesday. They say that it is hard to break the humerus,
> but I disagree.
> I still have trouble with my bicep on that arm(left arm)
> I suppose I
> always will.
> Now, we don't paddle alone. We carry a first aid kit,
> and we research
> the river before we go.
>
> Bev
>
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