I sure tested the new waders today. They were fantastic -- and maybe even a life saver.
Today we did 6-7 miles of river cleanup on the South Branch Potomac River, above Romney, WV. I put on the new waders before we launched two 16' Old Town canoes and a 17' john boat.
My canoe partner was a 14 year old neighbor boy who I've greatly respected since he was pretty small. I'm extremely thankful he was my canoe mate.
I think we found that 6-7 miles is way too much cleanup for two canoes and a wide john boat. Our canoe had several hundred pounds of trash when we decided we couldn't add anymore. Three tires, a 55 gallon blue barrel, a 5 gallon can, six filled industrial size trash bags full of bottles and other scrap, a number of 6-ft T-posts, several coolers, and much more.
We were stacked way too high. We were unstable, and from the back of the canoe I couldn't see anything in front of us. About a half mile before our takeout point, we hit some pretty turbulent white water at the confluence of three river sections. Our load shifted, and we went over. The current was incredible. We were able to stick with the canoe. The current pushed us near to a very steep shoreline, and into a big sunken tree. The canoe lodged on its side into the tree. My canoe partner was in chest deep water, I was in deep water. As we tried to free the canoe, I was pulled away by the current, and well down river in seconds.
My young partner was able to work his way to the extremely steep shoreline where he was able to get partially out of the water.
For about 30 minutes I was pummeled by rapids, sunken trees, and strong current until I was able to finally get to shore near the takeout point.
Anyway, the waders were great. They took a pretty serious beating through the rocks in the rapids and against sunken trees, with no noticeable damage. I'd been in the waders for about six hours before the incident. They were quite comfortable in the 70 degree air temp and about 60 degree water.
I'm just glad we both had a life vests on. I had to swim and fight the current pretty hard for about 30 minutes. I don't think I would have made it without the vest. I also think the waders helped keep me from hypothermia.
I had rope and a grappling hook in my truck. We were able to get my young friend to safety, and we successfully freed the canoe, but with a lot less trash than before.
