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Apr 8, 2023: Skip Pendleton Memorial St. George River Trip

The sixth annual Skip Pendleton Memorial St. George River Trip was held on a cool, breezy, but sunny day.  Eighteen paddlers in sixteen boats met at the takeout on Route 105 in North Appleton.  This was one of those rare days when river activities went very smoothly.  Everyone seemed to have an enjoyable experience and it was a swim-free event.  Many in the group retired to Thresher’s Brew Pub after.  We enjoyed a great day of paddling while recognizing an exceptional member from the past. 

Participants:  My count at the put-in was 18 people in 16 boats.  However, only the following 16 people signed the waiver form – Bruce Weik, Mike Eastman, John Lightner, Bud Gilbert, Andrew Kelly, Dave Boyle, Mike Bridges, Glen Widmer, Bob Price, Justin Schlawin, Merlin Schlawin, Helen Hess, Suzanne Cole, Gary Cole, Carolyn Atwood, and Ron Chase HOC (Herder of Cats)

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Apr 2, 2023: Sheepscot River, 650cfs

Participants: Bruce Weik C1, Helen Hess OC1, Paul Plumer OC1, Reid Anderson OC1, Daniel House OC1, Peter Hubbard OC1, TC: Kenny DeCoster OC1, Ron Chase K1, Greg Gerbi K1, Ken Gordon K1, Catherine Kimball K1, Dan Bennis K1

The plan was to hold a weekend paddle festival in Winterport area on the Marsh on Saturday and Sou on Sunday- a repeat of last year’s schedule. But mud season weather can make scheduling trips a nightmare. When Saturday was predicted to be rained out, I forfeited my trip on Sunday, so we all would get a chance to paddle the Marsh again. On Friday, the Sunday outlook deteriorated and Charlie canceled the Marsh trip. I gave up on the weather until Ron called Saturday morning asking where I was going to paddle on Sunday. Within 24 hours, 12 people showed up for a glorious sunny day on the Sheepscot River. Although the temperature was below my threshold of 40 degrees, the full sun and breeze at our backs made up for the pool of water in the bottom of the canoe freezing my toes.

We had great diversity in the participant list: the entire PPCS executive committee plus Reid were present, Paul Plumer made a rare appearance and used his Stearns award fame to delay the meeting time to noon, I recognized Greg this time around, Bruce finally took a day off of work to join us, Catherine, sea kayaker extraordinaire, paddled a much shorter boat, I finally had the pleasure of surfing with Peter, and new members, Dan and Dan, paddled with us for the first time.

The water level was 650 cfs and the rocks dotted the waterscape. There were many attempts at surfing to limber up the dormant paddling muscles, and plenty of time to float down the current and enjoy the sun and everyone’s company.

I’ve only paddled the Sheepscot once in the past decade and struggled to find the take out (no GPS) to meet everyone. 18 years ago as I was learning to solo paddle, I would join Carolyn Welch and Dave Lanman on their class II weekends: Sheepscot, Ossippe, Saco, Sandy and Carrabassett. Today brought back a lot of memories. There are still a couple more class II trips this spring- SYOTW.

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Apr 8, 2023: Millers River

TC’s Paul Leclerc K-1 & Pat Cavanagh K-1

Joint trip with RICKA (RI Canoe and Kayak Assoc. and PPCS

Participants: PPCS Kenny DeCoster OC1, Ryan Galway OC1, Brendan Regan, OC1

Erik Eckilson OC1, Ben Gorman K1

It’s Millers Time!

With poor snowfall over the winter, leaving no snowmelt and virtually no early Spring rains, the whitewater rivers of southern New England were low. Fortunately, the Millers River in north central MA has an annual April release. Being a member of RICKA (RI Canoe and Kayak Assoc.) and a proud Chowderhead, I thought it would be fun to make it a joint venture. Kenny, Ryan and new Chowderhead, Brendan joined me, Pat and 2 other RICKA WW boaters – Erik, and Ben.

Whitewater boating is done on two sections of the Millers – the Upper Millers, a 7 mile stretch through mostly remote forested land beginning in South Royalston and ending in Athol and the Lower Millers, a 5 mile segment beginning in Erving and ending in Millers Falls. The Upper II/III section is more technical. The Lower is abundant II/III wave trains and a powerful class IV rapid (the Funnel) in the middle. Today, we would be doing both.

With a sunny, but chilly (40 degrees) start we put in at the Upper and headed out. All was going well, until we came to the last class III rapid – a fairly strong rapid requiring quick technical maneuvering. Erik decided to challenge himself by entering the section dodging what most boaters would rather avoid and quickly found himself going over a large pour-over. Immediately he was separated from his boat and in the water. Knowing what lay ahead, he quickly and safely swam to shore. Fortunately, Pat was behind and able to push his canoe into an eddy. Ben, being fairly new to whitewater, found himself too far right and unable to escape another large pour-over and quickly capsized. Unable to successfully roll his kayak, he ejected and hit his forehead above his right eye on a shallow rock.

Leading the group, I spotted an old large limbless tree just under the current, but it was too late to safely paddle around, so I paddled hard to get over it. Not having enough speed from the short distance, my boat came to rest on top of it. I turned to warn the group and spotted Ben in the water floating helplessly towards the tree. I blew my whistle. Either not hearing me above the turbulence or being disoriented from his injury, Ben headed for the tree and got sucked under. In those heart stopping seconds, he was pushed through underneath and came up gasping for air.

At this point the current was calm enough for him to swim to shore. His impact resulted in a cut and a golf ball size swelling. Had he been caught under the tree it might have been a very different outcome. Luckily it was near the end of the river, and he finished the run. We provided an ice pack for the swelling and a bandage. As it turned out, Brendan is a nurse and said he’d be ok.

Four of us continued to the Lower Millers: me, Pat, Kenny, and Ryan. We scouted the Funnel – it looked nothing like the video. They never do. After deciding our lines, Pat went first and went through clean. I entered next and went river right – too right and got flipped off the edge of a powerful hole. After two unsuccessful rolls in the turbulence, I waited for the rapid to lose its fury, then rolled up further downstream. Kenny was amazed I could hold my breath for so long. Being late in the day, and witnessing my rolling demonstration, Ryan and Kenny opted to skirt the rapid and stay dry. Off the river, temps had risen to the upper 50’s. You can’t beat twelve miles of whitewater fun with a few good friends. Be safe out there. SYOTR.

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Mar 25, 2023: Souadabscook Stream “Icebreaker” – 6″ on the gauge

Participants: Helen Hess OC1, Sean Kluttz OC1, Reid Anderson OC1, Kenny DeCoster TC OC1, Ella Reilich-Godino and Regan Greer OC2, Ron Chase K1, Charlie Berliant K1

Many years ago, I paddled the ” Ice Breaker” when it was 33 degrees, cloudy, and windy and I told myself never again. I don’t want to freeze to death. I always insist in the trip book description that the temperature has to be above 40 degrees. Last week, people were so eager to paddle that I got out voted and gave in. Eight of us braved the 36 degree cloudy overcast weather to paddle the Soudabscook with a gauge reading of one half. At this level, the river isn’t pushy and most of the rocks are covered. We ran class III drops, rocky rapids, and various surf waves of varying intensity- a little something for everyone.

Helen brought along two alumni friends from COA. As fairly new paddlers, Ella and Regan had great lines through the rapids, maintained their composure with an unintended boof in Crawford Rapids and mastered a tandem surf on the smooth wave. It’s great to have new open boaters along who enjoyed the river so much. Everyone else had good runs down the river. Only the TC couldn’t stay upright and rode the run out of Grand Falls on the side of his canoe bracing against the gravel bottom.

Five paddlers “skimmed the cream of the Sou”* and got off the river at Papermill Park, while three of us continued on – losing all feeling in our fingers and toes. Along the forested section, I saw a small brown head sticking out of the water. It dove almost immediately. I believe I spotted my first swimming mink! There wasn’t much surfing at the snowmobile bridge and we took off at Laskey Lane so that we wouldn’t have to scale the snow banks at the regular take out- the water district. I can’t wait to get on the Marsh Stream next week.

* an apt description of the upper Sou uttered at the put in by our President.

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Oct 22, 2022: Little Suncook, Epsom, NH

Ryan Galway TC OC-1,  Mason Galway C-1,  Kenny Decoster OC-1,  Craig Mckinnon OC-1,  Sean Klutz OC-1,  Ron Chase K-1,  Bill Stafford K-1,  Paul Bicknell K-1,  Steve Fortin K-1.

It was a gem of a day in east central New Hampshire.  The forecast was for temps in the mid 60s and sunshine and a release of around 300cfs on the Little Suncook river.  Pretty hard to beat for the middle of October.  I was joined by 8 others for a day of class 3-4 whitewater.  Many of the attendees were the usual suspects but it was also nice to be joined by a new club member Sean Klutz.  I love having more open canoes in the group and I hope he will join us on some more future trips.

This run starts out with a blast.  Just a hundred yards or so from the put in the river thunders through its steepest drop.  A shallow narrow section littered with river wide holes rocks and the occasional strainer. Mason,  Ron,  Paul,  Bill,  Steve,  Kenny and I decided to run this drop while Sean and Craig put in just below.  Everyone had great runs with no flips or swims.  The run carried on with more narrow steep class 3 rapids followed by a paddle through a short marsh.  The marsh terminates with a fun 6 foot boof off a dam to start the second half of the run.  The rapids continue as class 2 and 3 and everyone was having a good day until we got stacked up on some strainers. Unfortunately this resulted in one of the kayaks getting pinned and flipped upstream and the paddler washing under the log.  The paddler was ok,  but I was told at the end of the day it was a humbling experience. The excitement didn’t end there with the boat being set free I had to chase it alone and was finally able to corral it a ways down stream.  I was then able to get a bag to the boater and ferry them across the river.  We also had to rescue another boat as it drifted into the strainers.  In the chaos a paddle was lost and a kayaker was able to use my back up single blade to finish the run.  This was a fun day that ended well but made me aware that it is important to have your safety gear every time you are on the river.  That day multiple throw bags were used as well as rescue vests and tethers and a back up paddle.  All of these items are important and were essential to making it off the river safely in one piece.  If you don’t always carry these items please consider doing so in the future.