Let's see...
We had....Bill, Jim, Larry, Bruce, Wendy, James, Chris, Todd and I.
Meeting Bruce, Chris and Todd for the first time.
I didn't get to see Kayak Star Annie...but we were treated with a stupendous performance from Wendy and a few big hugs from Karine, our famous international river working girl.
(she looked thin and in good shape, eager to see the peruvian boyfriend succeed his coming immigration tests.)
We got to see Karine at work, later on, with her charge of tourists on the first major rapid. (Reine Charlotte, what's the name there...hey! only 2nd time on that river and we had Bill the Living Encyclopedia with us)
Jim showed us just how easy the first rapid can be...Larry also had a good line and a quick recovery roll.
The rafts were in action...lots of flipping and picking up bodies...that until the level of phafing (whatever the word is) reached critical level and we were brought back to reality and down the stream.
The next set of rapids was clogged with more rafts and we waited for an opening...the end of our column got over run by the following group of rafts...literally over run.
Wendy missed the eddy before the Washing Machine and bravely surf it until the next raft dorked in then added a thick layer of protective plastic on top of her...
Nonetheless, Wendy simply waited....and waited...until the coast was clear, the floating blimp looking for another victim.
Then she rolled back up.
Chris also had an episode in the Washing Machine. Actually, he must have been stuck on the spin cycle 'cause, he had a few on the previous rapid as well.
Boy! the Habitat 80 is a heavy son of a gun. Most of us opted for the lower seal lunch. Even Wendy and Bill....probably his first time since, what ? 1952? or is it 1972?
A much better landing than I - I can tell you that. But what followed though gave us a bit of a scare.
Bruce and James ran after Bill - then James decided to practice his rolls at that precise moment under close - very close supervision from Bill...
I opted for the yellow Habitat 80....it is heavy empty, you can imagine when full of water...
With 2 more warm bodies, the emptying was much easier.
All in all, far from a boring day.
A lot warmer than the pouring rain and low single digit thermometer value I witnessed upon my departure from Montreal that morning.
But somehow, I couldn't go for the secular post traumatic Dairy Queen ice cream.
I hope you enjoyed you day too...
Pictures anyone?
LD
