So yesterday I’m paddling my canoe upstream near the shoreline with my dog when my bow hits a sunken tree that makes the boat take a hard left. Now I’m headed straight for the jagged end of a big fallen tree limb that’s poking above the surface and just 5-6 feet away plus the current is pushing the bow. Luckily we bounced off the tree limb relatively gracefully but I got a pretty good shot of adrenalin.
Glad you both stayed dry. That’s the kind of event that often concerns me going upstream. Often when there is a strainer or other obstruction the current in the clear path accelerates and it’s a bit of a climb going up. Not too hard to lose the bow angle & get into trouble.
The uncertainty of what might be lurking beneath after winter storms is why I’ve been hesitant to get on a river, even though we’ve had a couple days of nice weather. That and the very high water levels.
Glad you bounced and didn’t crash.
Losing bow angle,
vectored to trouble,
in my years as canoe poler
seems that’s my daily double,
“What is the point,”
I oft bark towards bilge of canoe,
“if you take a stern bow
while this director’s wish you eschew!”
But heartless hull heeds me not,
and then my staff on me quits,
and I’m forced to broach how my approach,
at Ole Man River now sits.
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Adrenalin…Nice to be reminded now-and-then in relatively harmless way, that one is very much alive.
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At least your kayak paddle blades stay shallow and aren’t as likely to get grabbed by a sunken tree as a canoe paddle; that’s always good for a quick thrill especially when the paddle gets wedged against a moving boat.
My second bounce pointed my bow back upstream. Pure luck given how fast it happened.
Been there twice. Wound up in 40° water on one. Exhilarating when wearing a bathing suit and t-shirt. The air temp was 70°.
My own fault I suppose given that I like to paddle along the shore near fallen trees since they block some of the current going upstream.
One time years ago I hit a barely submerged stump head on while cruising along at an exercise pace and the boat came to an instant dead stop. It was quite a jolt and I was surprised that the canoe wasn’t damaged.
I ran a chute on the Chattahoochee in my first rec kayak. I couldn’t see the wide rock dead center before I committed. I hit it and bounced back a couple of feet.
I was sore all over for a couple of days.