Don't Fall In

At the end of this week, DW and I will be heading out on another vacation. This time, we're heading east, following the north shore of the St. Lawrence River, past Québec City, to Parc national de la Jacques-Cartier, where we'll do some camping, hiking, and kayaking along the Jacques-Cartier River.

We're hoping to shoot some class-1 and maybe even some class-2 rapids on the river. If the water isn't suitable to shoot with our kayaks, we'll rent a couple of kayaks that are better-suited to the river conditions.

As much as I don't want to fall out of my kayak, I don't want to risk damaging it because

• I don't want to wreck my kayak, obviously; and
• I'm going to need my kayak for the second half of our vacation.

We'll spend a few days in the park and will then continue, further up the St. Lawrence, to the Saguenay River. We have two nights of camping and several more days in B&Bs and hotels. We're going to explore the small towns in this region and also get our kayaks into the fjord for some exploring on the water.

And, with any luck, we'll spy some beluga whales.

In preparation for this trip, DW and I wanted to make sure we were prepared in case we fell into the Saguenay River. We've bought some Farmer Johns—essentually, wet suits that are sleeveless. They'll also be good for keeping us warm when we're going down rapids on the Jacques-Cartier River, but they'll be absolute necessities in the Saguenay.

We also practised performing water rescues on the weekend. We drove out to Arnprior, on Saturday, where we planned to paddle from the mouth of the Madawaska River to the mouth of the Mississippi River, along the Ottawa River, and did our rescue practising close to a beach at the mouth of the Madawaska.

DW and I get ourselves into position.

Last year, we practised these techniques with our Paddlefolk on a lake, and we easily lifted ourselves out of the water and into our kayaks with the help of our partners. We did the manoeuvre where we hauled ourselves onto the stern deck, pushed our legs into the cockpit, and turned ourselves around whilst our partners held tightly onto our kayaks.

This time, DW and I practised the leg-hook method, where you lie on your back, next to your kayak, take the leg that's furthest from the kayak and hook it into the cockpit, you grab the opposite straps on your kayak and haul yourself up.

It sounds complicated but we found it easier than the other method. Headwaters Kayak has a great instructional video on their YouTube site. Check it out.

One of the downsides of flipping over in your kayak, for me, is that you find yourself briefly upside-down while you're under water, while you exit your craft. And for me, being upside-down, under water, is not good.

For years, I've developed a condition that when my head is under water and I'm not the right-side up, my sinuses revolt. I get completely congested. My ears block up and squeak, and I get off-balance. My eyes become itchy, as if I was having a bad allergy attack.

In essence, I'm allergic to being under water.

All night, Saturday, and all day, Sunday, my body felt like it was having the worst headcold or allergy attack ever. I was barely functional for a good part of the day.

On our trip, I'm going to be extra-careful when we're in our kayaks. I don't want to get cold and I don't want to find myself upside-down, under water.

So, I just hope I don't fall in.

I'll have a video of our water rescue, tomorrow. Happy Monday!