Canoe & Kayak School and the Parental Invasion – 6/25 and 6/26/05

Less than a week back from vacation, we were back on the road to the rivers, this time for TSRA’s Canoe and Kayak School. My parents came in for the event. Dad had taken four days of instruction in NJ/PA at park and play spots. I suggested he come down for the school to get some on-river instruction that gave him more time in the boat and more experience with water reading. I also offered for Mom to take the sea kayak school to enjoy the Ocoee Lake and some time with instructors outside of the spousal school of paddling. The joys of work kept me occupied until late on Friday so I didn’t meet up with them until Saturday morning.

Originally, I had been assigned to teach with Craig and Jim and one of my students would be my dad. I excused myself from that class and got reassigned to the recreational kayak class. Mom was in a class with Tim and David, so I knew she was in good hands. Turns out Marilyn was transforming into a bi-boater that weekend, so she had a driving buddy for the trip from camp to the lake both days.

Technically, my rec kayak class was the “if it floats” class. We had recreational kayaks, whitewater kayaks, sea kayaks and an inflatable kayak in our class. Our group had beginners and novices, including some return customers from Intro School. We began our day with introductions and introductory wet exits at Ocoee Lake, followed by stroke instruction and rescue/reentry practice. I learned that the throw rope that I carry makes the graceful lady reentry quite ungraceful.

At the end of the day, we moved on to moving water on the takeout to takeout Ocoee run, one of my favorites for teaching despite the difficulty unloading. Once we all were in the water ready for eddy turns and peel outs, Beverly found a hornets’ nest and heaved herself into the water to avoid it. Our first and only rescue of the weekend. We decided to go ahead downstream to find less painful eddies for practice. I led the way and found more dynamic but still beginner-friendly eddy most of the way down the river left path past the island. We picked out a few spots for eddy turns, peel outs and ferries as we worked down the river. When everybody appeared suitably tired, we returned to camp for dinner, rest and camaraderie.

The next morning, students shuffled and we headed for the Hiwassee Outfitters takeout with a slightly different group from the day before. All types of kayak continued to be represented, so we were still the “if it floats” class. Lora and Cindy paddled their rec kayaks. Gordon paddled his sea kayak. Debbie was in her inflatable. Robert, Nicole and all of the instructors paddled whitewater kayaks. We were going to run from the usual Hiwassee takeout to the campground, which technically was a new river for me.

After the usual safety review, we began our day with eddy turn, peel out and ferry practice as we floated downstream. We found a couple of good spots for practice before looking more explicitly for a lunch spot. After lunch, we arrived at Power Line rapid, the biggest rapid of the day. It’s a long, bouncy series of waves as the river bends around to the right a little. The telltale power lines across the river make it easily visible from the road as well as from the approach on the river. I led the group through and turned to watch everybody smiling as they plowed through the waves. The skirtless rec kayaks accumulated a fair bit of water before the big eddy at the bottom.

After Power Line, Mary left us to find the takeout. It’s at a fairly brisk section of river, so the eddy turn required to get to the boat ramp can be surprising to some. We still had about a mile of river left and a few good ledges and waves to enjoy. Lisa led the group and I ran sweep. Mary had fetched Jack to help “catch” at the takeout, so we had some extra support with boat wrangling. From my perspective, it didn’t look like anybody had any difficulty with the turn. Despite our best efforts, I think they may have learned a thing or two.

Sadly, Dad didn’t end on such a good note. At Fantasy Island, he had a close encounter with a rock that messed up his shoulder enough that he needed help getting to the takeout. Craig and Jim rafted him through the bigger rapids. Our plans to head for the Nantahala became plans to head for the emergency room at Vanderbilt. On the way home, Dad was in enough pain that he let me splint the arm in the parking lot of Georgia gas station AND he let Mom drive the rest of the way home. It had to hurt.