Bow River Float 06

Today was the end of the regular paddle boarding season for me and the beginning of the irregular season. By which I mean that I did some very irregular things, such as floating a river by myself in dangerously low temperatures (13C air & 12C water), in an area without cell phone coverage, and with bad weather coming in.

The thing is that I had promised myself I was going to push the limits of paddle boarding this year to extend my season, so this is what I did. Well, it was more of a test run for what I have in mind. I needed to test the gear that arrived, namely my drysuit.

The drysuit is made by a company called Level Six and it has integrated socks with very tight-fitting neck and wrist gaskets. Water is not getting into this thing once it’s on. It does have two zippers, one across the shoulders for getting into the suit and one at the crotch to allow men to relieve themselves. Both zippers are watertight. That solved the problem with the dangerously cold water.

The cell phone dead zone is another matter. I had discovered earlier this year, first in the mountains and then at Chain Lakes, that many of the places where I want to ride the water are sans service for mobile devices. This is a problem if I get into some sort of medical pickle while I’m there. I did some research and found a particular satellite SOS beacon and communication device called the Spot X. It seemed like a good idea until I saw the price of new units. Ouchie.

I have been losing eBay auctions on used GPS beacons one after the other until about two weeks ago when I finally got this new old stock Spot X GPS for $45 and another $12 in shipping. It works in North America and the company has flexible and affordable plans. That covered the communications problem, especially with the integrated Live tracking feature. Now I feel safe going into communication dead zones for land-based devices provided they are within range of a good air ambulance service.

I also fed a fresh, higher quality TF card into my Akaso EK-7000 el-cheapo action cam and now it works like a trooper. The old card borked on me and cost me a day’s worth of great video. The quality of the images from the Akaso is not incredible, but good enough, as is the video. I can start/stop the video and trigger the camera from my wrist remote.

I triggered my remote to make sure the video was working and then I launched and was off on my three and a half hour journey down the river.

The first half hour was more or less pleasant, if somewhat cool because of the nearly constant wind. It was a stiff breeze, but nothing I couldn’t paddle against. I tried to enjoy the fall colours as they popped in the sunlight while sadly noting that the trees were more than half stripped of leaves already. That wind, right?

About an hour in, the sun, which had been dancing in and out of patches of cloud, buried itself in clouds for the rest of the trip causing the temperature to dip noticeably, while the wind had cranked up another notch. I had been paddling steadily the entire time, but now I really started to dig into the water with my paddles, intending to shorten the trip if I could. I didn’t need to look behind me to know there was a storm at this point, I felt it in the air.

It eventually started to spit and then rain, so I stopped and looked behind me. Ouch. My one mistake this trip was that I messed up and somehow went into the water wearing my street shoes. It wasn’t a huge deal as I had a very thick, warm pair of socks on my feet inside my drysuit’s built-in socks, so my feet were dry if a bit cool. I would have done better with my neoprene booties. The rest of me was comfy and the drysuit turned out to be a damn good decision. I pressed on through the rain.

One thing I may have to look into, and I am unhappy with this, is contact lenses. It’s hard to see when your eyeglasses are covered with raindrops and you need to see things like rocks poking out of the water ahead. This is something I need to figure out for future trips in bad weather.

I didn’t encounter anyone else in a kayak or on a paddle board, but there were quite a few fishing boats out there and one in particular was filled with some right fucking idiots. I had to take the same curve on the river they did and they were right in the middle of it in rough water still casting out lines. I’m blowing my safety whistle like crazy to let them know I’m coming up on them and they looked at me and kept fishing. No attempt to get out of my way.

I was getting tossed around by the water and the wind, and since I was on a craft with significantly less drag than theirs, I couldn’t help that I was overtaking them. I managed to squeeze by on the left, but it was closer than I liked. If I had gone into the water I could have bounced off their boat or gone under it. Not good.

The wind let up for a moment and the rain slacked of to just spitting, so it was a good time to pull to shore for a moment. I swapped a fresh battery into the Akaso action cam and busted out a hoagie, a strawberry granola bar, and a fresh bottle of Coke Zero. I am also pleased to report that the relief zipper on the drysuit functions as designed to. (Note to the authorities, this is not an admission of public urination, just me testing the zipper.)

I was once again using the short fin on my board to deal with shallow spots in the river and it worked magnificently for that. I did have some issues. First, you’re not as stable in a strong wind and boy did I have wind tossing me around. Second, that larger fin really cuts into rougher water and helps with steering. It is easy to spin on rough water when you’re using a shallow fin and easier still when getting blasted by strong wind gusts.

I made it through the bad patches and I know I can do it again as I have learned how the craft handles with a short fin in bad weather. I will be able to compensate for it with my rowing now that I know what to expect. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t puckered for a bit. I was.

The sustained wind and drizzle was getting to me by the time I approached the exit for Johnson’s Island and the sky was still gross, but the end was near and I could ignore the developing chill in my drysuit. I only had on light undergarments and while I was in no danger of hypothermia, it was getting uncomfortable. I just had to make my way up the inlet. I stopped to text for my Uber (a ride from my daughter) as cell service had returned and I took a few last images. You really don’t want to see mammatous clouds squatting over you when you’re alone on a river.

I reached my exit off the main river past Johnson’s Island and headed downstream to where my daughter would be picking me up, glad to be on the home stretch and I felt myself start to relax. That was a mistake.

The wind I had encountered so far on the trip paled in comparison to what I had just turned into. It was head-on and it was bad. I basically clawed my way down river through the gale. A trip that normally takes me under five minutes moving with the current took me seventeen minutes fighting the strong wind. Any time I slacked off for even an instant I found myself moving backwards. I was seriously wondering if I would have to ditch my craft along the west edge and walk the rest of the way to the parking lot as I was exceeding the capabilities of both my arms and my heart condition.

I made it, but just barely, and was grateful my daughter was running late as I needed five minutes to get my breath back. Also for my arms to stop burning. I eventually powered down my action cam and started packing up gear for my daughter to help me load. The rest of the action cam videos can be found here.

My first solo river trip was a success, but there are lessons to be learned from it. The one time I think I was in genuine danger was around the fishing boat. I know I can handle my craft well enough, but rivers have the same problem roads do; other people on them. I want a helmet for any future runs in case I come off my board and knock my noggin on someone’s boat or a rock in the water. I am simply not making another run without one and it has be specific to kayaking as my scootering helmet doesn’t have the right coverage. I have realized this is a critical item.

I also need a departure checklist. Leaving without a clothing item in cold temperatures is unacceptable. It wasn’t a problem this time, but the temperature is only going down. I’ll get that sorted. Finally, better undergarments are needed, and ones that handle sweat inside a drysuit (TMI, sorry).

So… Do I think I can keep going or another month or two? Yes. I can. But. BUT. I need to fine tune some and even more attention to safety is needed. And a helmet.

This is my third time doing this trip and it is my fastest run yet. I have shaved it from over four and a half hours to under three and a half. I barely made any stops for one thing, and I took fewer photos as I needed to keep both hands on a paddle most of the time because of the wind. I also paddled this entire stretch as opposed to floating previous trips because of the, you guessed it, wind. I would have been blown back up the river in many places if I hadn’t pushed through the wind.

The big win was the second-hand Spot X GPS. It worked perfectly and I was able to stay in contact through what is normally a phone dead zone. I felt a lot better knowing that, worst case, a three second press on the SOS button and aid would be headed toward me. All I would have to do is make it to a shore and wait. My family would know of the SOS, but they would also be reached out to by the response centre and be kept in the loop as the rescue progressed. I appreciated that this was covered if needed and it was worth spending $20 for the month.

Images are from my OM System (formerly Olympus) Tough TG-7 and my Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra phone. All videos and one image are from my cheapie Akaso EK-7000 action cam.