go.

On Sunday I took a friend, Mike Freeland, for his first whitewater kayaking trip. This weekend the TVCC had a Paddle School on the Hiwasse, so there was a little more traffic than usual, but not bad. It was slightly overcast, and the water was colder than I remembered. I should’ve worn a top.

We started the day with roll lessons. Mike did well, and was getting most of his rolls by the end of our ~45 minute session. I was glad to get out of the water at that point. Standing still in cool, moving water for 45 minutes just makes one cold through and through.

We had last minute donuts and put in at the large parking lot below Apalachia. Mike seemed comfortable in the boat for a beginner. As we paddled downstream, I taught him a little about water topography (is that a thing?) and how to choose a good line. The first class II water we encountered capsized Mike. I was nearby and he was reaching up, so I gave him a bow rescue. I gave him my paddle and hand paddled to retrieve his in the now-calm water. He handled the whole thing rather calmly. Afterward, he said that he was considering swimming when he realized I was there. I hope so. I have had friends wait calmly upside down in their boats (without a paddle) for a bow rescue or possibly for a miracle of some sort. That is scary. We eddied out and Mike seemed fine, so we went on. The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. Mike did very well overall. He is ready for another session to dial in his roll and then he’ll be ready for his first combat roll.

Back at Hiwassee Outfitters, I left Mike with the gear and bummed a shuttle from a couple canoers. One of them was formerly the software architect for some part of the OnStar system iirc. He gave me a bit of computer history from before my time. I learned a little about VAX/VMS and the emergence of Unix, talked about DOS memory management woes and the heyday of Amiga. He invited me to come to a Chattanooga Grotto meeting, which I definately plan to do.