Initially, I had a request from a close friend for an “Ocoee Lite” experience. After making a request for some experienced safety boaters, others starting coming out of the wood work also interested in an “Ocoee Lite” experience. We had 6 boaters putting in at the bottom of Slice and Dice and paddling to Goforth Creek, the traditional midway point. We had over 15 boaters running down from the top, so we split into two groups. It was a good day, we had a good group of solid boaters mixed with a fairly big group of newbies, we had a few swims as expected. One of the guys that put in at the top, swam below broken nose and his boat was stuck in a river right hole at the top of slice and dice for a long time, with his paddle stuck in a hole near the bottom, so there were a few minor moments of excitement, but all swimmers were polite enough to take turns swimming one at a time. Edward Stockman told me at Goforth that he enjoyed our group providing the day’s entertainment 🙂
It was a pretty Fall day! Special thanks to Tom, Paulyne, Todd, Jesse, and Jill for stepping up and taking care of everybody. Adam gets the “my gear got recirculated, but not me, look out for head shots if you flip on the Broken Nose sneak award” Dean gets the “never give up even when you don’t have a paddle award”. Mark H. gets the “side surfed in Flipper and lost a river bootie award.” Ellie and her boyfriend get the “we are having so much fun we are going all the way down” award. Rich and Cheryl get the “see I told you that you were ready” award. Billy gets the “I haven’t slept all weekend worrying about this trip but I did just fine” award. I get the “how in the heck did you end up trying to coordinate a 20+ paddler trip when you are a first season paddler on the Ocoee” award. It was great to see JD Grogan and Chuck Kirk. Chuck gets the “makes Jay nervous by saying his name and Cheoah in the same breath” award. Tom and Todd get the “SWR clinic” award. I’m sure more awards should be handed out, and we will add to the list! I think their is a lot of interest in this kind of trip, and I hope we can have some more trips like this next season. Except, maybe we will formally organize them from the beginning!
October 29, 2011
Jay Davis
