Late, slow and unprepared paddling companions – A rant

[Guest]

We were maddeningly some four hours late getting started. It was hot as heck out and we were running out of time. I was sweaty, rushing and none too pleased to be starting at noon instead of 8am.

That was probably one of the most egregious examples, an early summer swamp trip down south; I had wanted to start at dawn, compromised for 8am and eventually got underway at noon for the heat of the day. That scenario is part of why I stopped leading group trips.

Someone was always late arriving at the meet up or cross-boat shuttle transfer. Usually the same person who was late the last trip. I would tell them 8am when the meet was really at 9, and they would still be late.

With the crew assembled someone always needed to stop for gas along the convoy shuttle route, even on local trips a half hour from home. Oh, and they need to grab something for lunch along the way too. Why don’t we just skip it and go antiquing instead?

And then, finally, at the launch. What did they forget, who has a spare whatever, where’s my hat, I can’t find my keys.

Don’t even get me started on keys, you know, the keys to your car, the one down we left down at the take out. Those keys, the ones you left safe and secure in the shuttle car up at the put in. Or, two real life examples, the single naked no-ring car key they put in their pocket, the pocket with the hole at the bottom (it had fallen down his pant leg into his mukluks, don’t ask how long it took to discover that).

Or the keys I inquired about at the take out, during the shuttle and again at the put in. I asked three times about the keys. The keys they left securely locked inside the take out vehicle. Seriously, no residence within miles of the takeout had a coat hanger to spare?

Yea, we finally made it to the put in. Uh oh, what all do they still need to prepare, dry bag or assemble on site? Why are they just standing around babbling? Christ on a crutch, let’s get on the river already.

The bigger the group the harder it becomes. By the time you have herded one cat two more have wandered off. On annual Weekend of Rivers trips from a base camp I would announce a time to line up the cars, with boats racked and ready to go, and an hour later I’d finally drive off with a few folks still off somewhere making lunch or using the facilities. Herd one, lose two.

A local guidebook author was infamous for arriving at the put in, tossing his canoe in the water and paddling away. I adopted that strategy, although I would usually wait in an eddy a mile downstream, away from the road noise. And wait, and wait, and wonder WTF?

Rant over. I have a rare group trip coming up in a couple of weeks. It should be fun, but mostly because it is a rarity. I have my doubts about achieving a dawn launch, but it’s a blackwater swamp river during migration; I just hope it doesn’t become noon again.

 

[MacCamper]

Hmmm, can you say solo? I have never had a problem when I go alone. Well, rarely do I have problems.

 

[yellowcanoe]

You need a better group. Or trained group Just go and leave them.
Another reason to solo
The Ozark Rendezvous group handles groups in small groups that self organize. If you don't do your part to get into a subgroup you get left in camp it's up to your car group and the other car group to organize. Usually one driver takes custody of all the keys.
One day we managed to move 40 boats approximately . Most were solos on the Buffalo River

 

[latremorej]

Yes, leave them! BUT, I would make it very clear prior to sign up. Something good along the line of

1- Have all required gear, on the list of bare essentials, that I have provided.

2- The trip starts at 6am sharp. This means that we leave at 6am. Please do not get left behind.

3- If you don't make it to the put in and still want to visit, we should be at the take out by (insert time). Drive over there and say hi. (If you don't make the put in time I won't expect you at the take out as we will most likely be gone before you arrive)

Hope to see you on the trip,

Sincerely, Mike

In all honesty, I have been that guy once or twice. I have been left to catch up... nobody was wondering where I was, I had car trouble, and I said I would catch up, go ahead without me. It is a burden on the group though. I wish you luck and ennnjoy the trip

 

[clemency]

I love how you get yourself psyched up for a trip.

 

[sweeper]

The first couple year driving up to the Allagash (12 hours of possible delays) We HAD to stop at 'Dicks' in Bangor, a missing item the first year, a fishing license the second. The third year, "NO STOPPING AT DICK'S" went out in the email to the group. Get everything before you leave.

We would lose a half hour overtime we stopped, Dick's was and hour by the time we got back on I-95

At a rest stop everyones back in the car, two young ladies who remained in the car decided then now need to go. I cut them off, told them they were holding everyone up, and at the next stop they needed to get out when everyone else got out.

The last few years everything went very smooth, and we lost very little time getting there.

This year we had a nice easy day of driving planned, leave 8 AM-ish drive up to Algonquin, set up camp at Coon Campground and start paddling on Sunday. I got a call from my son last week, my granddaughter is graduating from 8th grade that Sat. at 2 PM. So much for the pleasant drive.

 

[dave0]

Your stories are why I go with friends, usually one or two. No BS at take out meet up, boat moved to shuttle vehicle, gear transferred and off we go. At put in off load and are usually on the water within 10-15 minutes. I rarely go with large groups with the exception of the annual Gentlemen's Trip in Sept to Umbagog or another lake. Even then everyone is on task since we've been doing this long enough. It's also why I have never ever joined a paddling club!

 

[Iskweo]

Wow, I contrast that with our Marshall Lake trip where we all converged from hundreds of miles away within an hour of each other and had the putin/vehicle shuttle/ loadout accomplished toute suite with no hiccups.We are awesome...lol.

Christine

 

[Cookannapurna]

The only time I do the group thing outside of my kids and occasionally a good friend, is a group trip to the Adirondacks every year with a relatively small group of guys (4-6). We meet at a pre-arranged campsite, it's come and go as you please.

I do an annual fly fishing trip to NH the same way with a larger group (8-10). It works because there is no one waiting on anyone else. It helps that in both cases all involved are experienced at what we're doing.

 

[snapper]

The vast majority (probably 90%+) of my group trips are with school where we control the situation; departure time, equipment, etc. If someone is late for the stated departure time we'll give them no more than 5 minutes and that's only to take into account that not all of the campus' clocks are synchronized. Once 8:05 AM (or sometimes even 6:05 AM) rolls around on my watch, we leave. We lose some folks the beginning of each year to tardiness but it's never been much of an issue. Oh, by the way, they also lose out on their $10.00 registration deposit if they're a no-show. I realize this is pretty easy for me because it's a college setting but that's all I have to offer. As for personal trips; their either with family (and that can be another story all together ) or with truly good friends who have the same expectations that I do.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.

snapper

 

[Guest]

I love how you get yourself psyched up for a trip.

Some backstory by way of explanation.

For 20+ years I led near monthly novice and practiced novice club trips. Day trips, multi-day paddle-in camping trips, canoe orienteering challenges and long Weekend of Rivers group gatherings, paddling 3 or 4 rivers from one central camping location.

One annual day trip event was called “Anything that Floats”. 64 people from three different clubs showed up for that outing one year. That was a (very gentle) downriver trip, but just try to organize cross-loading boats for the shuttle while calculating passenger space for the driver back haul.

I had to send them off from the upstream launch in pods of a dozen or so boats, with each pod herded by experienced paddlers. I inadvertently send one pair in a tandem canoe off from the launch with a random flotilla only to discover that they were not, in fact, part of our group. All four pods came together at a tributary for a lunch and swim break. Picture 35 or 40 boats pulled up on a sandy beach, folks eating and swimming and trying out different boats. Truly a most memorable zoo.

At some point I started keeping a list of participant names, and by the time I stopped the list had almost 800 names on it. Plus 36 dogs. And one kitten.

It was a great way to insure that I would paddle something, somewhere every month. The group trip organization was largely fun, and extremely educational, and I’d like to think I got pretty good at wrangling a novice crowd. I met some truly wonderful people, and of those 800 names there were but a handful that I prayed would never show up again. But I simply burned out on that challenge, tapered off leading group trips and finally just stopped altogether in lieu of going solo or with one or two trusted companions.

A friend has asked if I would lead a day trip at a memorial gathering this month. I have a beautiful novice-easy six mile stretch of river in mind, a stretch I’ve done a dozen times, easy shuttle close to where we will be staying and I doubt there will be more than a half dozen boats.

So, yeah, I guess I am trying to get myself psyched up. I haven’t led a novice group in years, and my family and select paddling companions are the very model of efficiency, so I have become increasingly spoiled.

It’ll be, uh, fun. Or at least memorable; we launch from the same Wildlife Boating Access where the founding kitten was rescued.

 

[Uncle_Skwid]

In a river trip, I've found that the length of time required to get from point A to point B is directly proportional to the square of the number of people involved. There are exceptions of course and the rule really can't be applied across the board, but in general, as a measure of thumb, and on all but the most military of campaigns, square the group and compensate your time accordingly. I've also found that crowded river trips--I'm thinking here of the ones in which you have some modicum of responsibility--are a lot like teaching (at which, for the record, I failed miserably): it's not about the subject or, in this case, the water, it's about the people (and, yes, their baggage and trajectory and history and schtuff). And then people can be frustrating on, like, every level. They can also add immeasurable joy in surprising ways.

I mostly boat alone.

 

[cflcanoe]

Twice this year have tried to set up a shuttle. Twice they have canceled. Trying to find a last minute replacement but probably will not happen. We mostly go it alone. If it is not real close by or not worth taking two cars we go up and down stream. That's the nice thing about Florida flat water.

Way back in the day used to belong to two clubs. Florida sport paddlers and another one. This is way back in the preinternet time. Back when the phones were corded and the woolly mammoths were still around. The club news letter came once a month in the mail and you had to call the trip leader and ask nicely to come along. Any way way back then manners were still around and most people had them. Seems to me they went extinct with the corded phone and woolly mammoth. Any way the rule was the leader was to be at the launch no later than one hour before launch/shuttle time and hopefully earlier. Every one else at least 30 minutes. Otherwise you made the trip on your own. You also had to lead at least one trip a year. Only time we had a no show was one time when a accident happened on the way. A trip was something you planned for and waited for over a month. The leaders were the ones with local info that outdated guide books if there were any did not have. So the trips were an important exchange of information on places to launch and where to and what to buy. Now everything is on the internet.

The wife and I have tried a couple of new groups. On time the leader did not show. Most of the time we are wanting to paddle when they just wanted to float. A one time we held up a fast group with sea kayaks and surf skies. Stayed back with the two Tupperware kayaks. Then theirs the " you want to start at that hour???" Then the hated "you still have a canoe?". The wife grabs me and makes soothing noises wile I choke back the words. Half the paddle twice the man. Yes I even have been called a Dinosaur and this by a guy that used to demo solo canoes for a factory.

So lets face it. To most of us on this site canoeing is serious. Maybe even life and death. To most in the paddle sports world today it is just a casual maybe even trendy thing you do with little serious thought or care towards others. Yes I said life and death and meant it. The outdoors and thinking of it keeps some of us sane and healthy. It fills something inside of us. Some just are not fit to live in a concrete jungle.

 

[Grandpa Paddler]

Several years ago I was asked to organize a canoe trip for the men's group at our church. 1st yr: 4 guys (my eldest, 2 close friends & me) super easy. 2nd yr: 7 guys, still easy. 3rd & 4th yr: 10-12 guys, still not bad (actually a good number). Then came yr 5: 22 guys (9 canoes & 4 kayaks) several 1st timers both paddling and camping and lots of work on my part. 6th yr: 27 guys (I think). Twas a proverbial nightmare for me. One of the experienced camper & canoers started to tell me: ya shoulda done this, yadayadayada. My response was, "Why don't you plan next year and try it however you want?" My assumption was he would say no and shut up. To my surprise and extreme pleasure he said :yes!" He had some problems, I answered some question and we all survived... I even had fun. When he wanted to give it back... welllll, you can guess my response. After several years (mostly good) he has bowed out due to health issues and time constraints. Sooo... this year it's me or no trip.

So here's the deal:
This is the firm date-no dicussion
We are leaving the church parking lot at 7AM sharp... we ain't waitin' on ya
Paddle solo or find a paddling buddy
Work out rides amongst yourselves
I will have a trailer at my son Jeff's if you need hauling help-it needs to be on the trailer, securely tied down when I come to get it @ 6AM departure day.
Paul will use his minivan for shuttle so you need to talk to him
If you got questions or need help, better call before Thurs or the answer is no.

Nobody has complained yet, but then the trip isn't till June...

 

[Seeker]

Yup... Solo... Only ever have to wait on that one guy, and since we get along pretty well in all other ways, I can forgive him when he's late (usually because he needs to sleep in, which I entirely sympathize with.)

I invited my brother on a trip once... late, hurriedly packed (and thus needed to repack at the put-in), turned out to be missing key gear later on... never again. great guy. just not a tripper.

This is one reason I do not help out with Scouts or other youth groups... pushed soldiers for a few years, and minimum wage employees for another few, and have no patience for it anymore.

 

[GearFreak]

I do a lot of group trips, in fact majority of my trips are group. Enjoyed your stories, thankful that most of my issues are people/personality related. It would be nice to have a regular group of buddies or friends to trip with.

 

[BWCA66]

Have a group of 8 headed to the BWCA Friday morning, meeting up in Duluth. Always a risk that meet times get missed but I assigned the most reliable guy to drive the other half of the group. Have 2 newbies going this time and I also assigned 2 of the more experienced guys to work with them on gear and packing, hope it all goes well. Either way I'm in the woods for 4 days and hope the fish are biting plus I have a new canoe to try out, it's a Merrimack Souhegan model.

 

[Steve in Idaho]

I go with a large group about three times a year. It's an eclectic mix of canoes, kayaks, and now SUPs. Used to be organized by the local paddle shop, but now it's just carrying on mostly by tradition. The paddle shop owner was cured of "trip leader" status a couple of years ago by an over zealous forest ranger who thought we all were some kind of outlaw gang. Even called the police who showed up in SWAT gear with K9 unit - based on her hysterical allegations (imagine how they felt, investigating a bunch of mostly geezer paddlers coming off the river). So the deal is now that everyone who shows up is on their own. What happens is that we all tend to form our own sub-groups for logistics, while we mingle during the trip.... Especially at lunch.

Probably not a good plan for anything more than a day trip. But it sseems to work okay. There's always a handful of us happy to watch out for the stragglers. I don't even know what it's like to hear someone putting down another for their choice of boat.

There are certain people in the core group who invite each other on more ambitious trips. Three to five or so seems to be a safe number, when it's people you know. We often have an "instigator" who suggests a trip and picks a date, but no real leader. I like those trips best.

Still, most of my paddling and poling is solo. It's the only way I can even think of getting on the water enough.

 

[Guest]

Enjoyed your stories, thankful that most of my issues are people/personality related.

20 years of group trips have provided more stories than I could tell. Allergic Ben getting stung on the head of the penis. An inter-net famous “master” paddler who quit after a whopping one mile and threatened to sue me for endangering his life in two feet of water. Search and rescue looking for a missing companion; hearing a disheartening radio call from the chopper “Thermal imaging negative, there’s nothing alive down there”. (He had passed us unseen on the far side of an island and overshot the take out by miles).

Gentleman’s Trip shenanigans would a book unto itself. A novice team in a borrowed Explorer, who attempted to pack their gear on the last day in a nearly identical red MRC that was a foot shorter, and couldn’t figure out why everything would no longer fit. The other 6 guys watching knew exactly why, but managed not to let on until the canoe was finally done and Tetris-packed full and the shorter boat owner intoned “So, should I pack my gear in your boat?”

Bringing a large store bought whole salmon for a group meal and convincing the “fishermen” in the group that there was a pool of them just waiting to be caught a few poorly described paddling miles away. They got back after dark, but we saved them some dinner.

The Gents Camper timed for the Leonid meteor storm of 1998, not just for the 400+ fireballs, skippers and bolides, but for the three gents who turned in early and saw none of it.

DougD’s frantic Gents trip search (and wild theft accusations) while looking for his missing Grade A prime steaks; it would have been funnier if four other guys were not been searching just as frantically in hopes of avoiding another meal of Beenie Weenies cooked in the can over the fire. We ate Beenie Weenies. . . .and then Doug found the missing beef.

Watching three experienced friends overshoot the first night’s camp by 5 miles, until all I could see was the distant flash of paddle blades far down the bay. They came back, paddling 15 miles to a site 5 miles in. (Hmmm, DougD again).

Friend Tom, who sometimes paddled with the kettle of a Webber grill for preparing Gent’s feasts, attempting to thaw a frozen turkey on his dash board en route to the put in. Big dashboard + sudden stop = broken windshield. His missus asked “How did the windshield get cracked” and Tom told her in all honesty that a bird hit it.

Most challenging was trying to lead groups down swamp rivers full of barely submerged 2 inch overflow speedbump logs. I could not have been more clear in explanation; we have a dozen boats, so we can’t all wait at the downstream side to see everyone bump over. Wait for the person behind you, help them if needed, then get going and they can wait for the boat next in line. We need to keep it moving.

Like herding cats, everyone wanted to wait and watch. A dozen boats waiting for thirty minutes at every obstacle. Add to that several folks simply could not comprehend the speedbump approach instructions “Paddle, paddle, paddle hard all the way to the log, lean back, then lean forward and you’ll slide right over”.

How can that possibly be interpreted as “Paddle, paddle, paddle, stop paddling 3 feet from the log, slowly drift up and get stuck helplessly not even half way over”. And repeat again 100 yards downstream.

I beat the heck out of a new canoe furiously yanking stopped boats across. We managed five miles in 10 hours and it was nearing dusk when I abandoned them, cranked the last mile down to my truck at the take out, strapped a D-cell Maglite to the bow and went back for them.

I know of at least two parties that have spent the night in that swamp when darkness overtook their struggles, and it wasn’t gonna be me.

http://www.bluemountainoutfitters.ne...es/kris_02.htm

 

[GearFreak]

I see a book.
"Tom told her in all honesty that a bird hit it."
bonus points for saying it with a straight face.