It seems I didn’t get the memo as I brought a canoe to paddle with a fleet of three Pungos. Both Jim and Lisa have numerous boats but for this trip chose the ever-popular Pungo.
String wanted to do a river paddle and decided on a 12-mile section of the Saluda River he hadn’t paddled in a number of years. His friend David joined us. It’s near me so we set up a date and the weather was almost summer like with the high of 85. The morning felt like spring with a low of 48. We launched at 10:15 and took out about 3:30. Lisa also joined us and her husband helped us shuttle the cars to the takeout. They camped at a nearby state park.
It was 57 when we launched with clear skies and a delightful light wind as the day warmed up. Turtles agreed with us about how great the day had become and many were reluctant to drop from their sunning spot on a log. We saw a muskrat, Bald Eagle, a snake swim the river, Blue Herons and Kingfishers. Lisa rescued a Green Anole swimming in the river. The Longnose Gar were seen in pairs and seemed active at times. I suspect spawning season perhaps.
I know the feeling being the canoe in a sea of kayaks. We do a fun paddle each year for the fire company and I’m the guy in the canoe with last year close to 500 plastic kayaks.
Your day trip looked great. I used to visit people on Lake Murray for a couple weeks each summer. Your photos bring back lots of great memories exploring all the coves and streams in the area.
I too once made the mistake of bringing a canoe to a gung-ho Pungo-a-go-go! (And the looks I got, were as if I’d brought a tennis racket to a ping-pong match!)
Ping-pong,
Ping-pong,
Ping-pong a Pungo!
–But I learnt a hard lesson that day. I discovered they are truly popular boats for very good reason.
“Whilst in Rome, do as the Pungos do!”
So at my next rec excursion with the pungent ones, I bought along an 8 foot whitewater boat.
“What’s that?” They all cried.
“A vessel that aids me in unforseen surf and wake,” I replied…The ridicule was intense and immediate: As the only waves I saw, were the slight swirls trailing behind the Pungos sterns, as they washed against my bow.
I would like to lodge a complaint. I told String the distance was 11.5 miles. When the GPS was checked at the takeout it registered 12 and a “tad” miles. Now you would have thought some unwritten code of paddling etiquette had been trampled by my underestimate. I think he should just be proud to say he paddled 12 miles and leave it at that. I mean what’s half a mile and a tad?
I’ve taken my canoe to the club paddles that are 95% plastic kayaks. I had a Pungo 125 for 3 years and sold it. The Pungo was a bit too laid back for my taste. I’m still looking for an alternative. In the mean time my Northwind Solo gets me on the water in style with plenty of room for the pooch and miscellaneous gear.
Looks like you’re a flagship battleship amongst the fleet of destroyers and light cruisers. Should make you feel proud and mighty. The big man on little seas. A pig among guinea pigs.
The comments were great. Older guys were telling the younger kids “Look at that. That’s how we did it in the old days.” I had a lot of younger guys come up and ask questions. Mostly about how comfortable I looked and how much stuff I had room to haul. If I were smart I should have sold drinks out of it. I could have made a bundle. I hauled a large cooler for the group we went with.
The best part was most of those Pelicans were pretty much max loaded or even overloaded with just the weight of the person. The river was running low that day, and everyplace it got low the battleship was one of the few that would float right past. My 147 tandem converted to a solo only needed a couple inches of water with me and the cooler. I think it is rated at 900 lbs. No one had any kind of a painter line on the Pelicans so they would get out on the rocky bottom and lose the boat and I would gather them up for them down stream.
Was a fun day with 501 boats put in over an hour, but once a year is all of that I care to do. We went in last and were one of the first out 12 miles later and we were going slow.
Oh, a wondrous bird is the pelican!
His bill holds more than his belican.
He can take in his beak
Enough food for a week.
Though I’m damned if I know how the helican.
Both Jim and Lisa have numerous boats but for this trip chose the ever-popular Pungo.
I told String the distance was 11.5 miles. When the GPS was checked at the takeout it registered 12 and a “tad” miles. 
Now you would have thought some unwritten code of paddling etiquette had been trampled by my underestimate. I think he should just be proud to say he paddled 12 miles and leave it at that. I mean what’s half a mile and a tad? 
Uh-Oh…What can I tell ya–As poetry goes, I’m no "canoeswithduckheads."
