Another thought on safety

While posting on the low water bride on the New River it reminded of an incident we had earlier on this year in the Edistoe River in our C-2 that could have been a real catastrophy.

There were many dead falls, sweepers and trees which we had to portage over and paddle under.

The river was running real fast and the fact that it was a race and we were in front, we made a lot of quick decisions one of which turned out to be real stupid.

There was a large tree completely across the water and only about a foot or so above it. Rather than back paddling and slowing ourselves down to make sure we got under it safely, we paddled hard on, and didn’t see the jagged edge of a small branch that had been broken off close to the tree. Even though my wife (the bow paddler) ducked, it caught her in the scalp and she ended up seeing stars as well as a bad cut that should have had stitches. She still has the scar from it.

If we were not so fool hardy and just slowed ourselves down a bit we would have seen the branch and been able to maneauver to the side of it.



I am not sure which number safety lesson that this is but please add it to your list.



Cheers,

JackL