The Vermont Paddlers Club

I was thinking of heading out for a lap or two on the ledges but it was kind of raw out, and I'm a wuss. So I was probably going to sit this one out anyway. But Wilbur called on his way over. Sure enough when we got there we we saw three others on the river and one more waiting on his friend to show up.  The river is at a low runnable level that many people don't like due to the FU rocks. Me, I like it lower as it's not as pushy, reactions times don't need to be as fast and there are really no holes to speak of. 

We did put in at the park and were making our way down cleanly (well, Wilbur didn't like the boulder garden section). I've never really sussed out Secret C but rarely get flipped in it. Today went exceptionally smooth as I got the boof off the center flake and landed nicely in the fluff. Coming through the ledges I did get turned slightly sideways entering the first ledge. Fortunately, I was pretty far right and muscled out easily.  Oh By the Way has changed because of the rock falls. River right is still a go but no longer a straight shot. Still, for me, preferable to the Schott slot. Onto Rooster Tail where we came upon the three ahead of us. One sitting in an eddy at the top of the slide and the other two below the slide...one boat circulating in the eddy at the bottom.  Wilbur retrieved the errant boat and we were back on our way. We continued on without issue. The entrance to Hipshot seems to have changed just a bit, pushing you a bit more up on the river right rock. Just need to keep the boat angle good and it's alright. 

Wilbur was on a child care time table so we ran the boats up to the lower put in. I was good with one clean run on this rather windy rainy day. Wilbur, without me slowing him, can do a lap in 10 minutes, so he would still have time to get back for child care duties. We ran his truck back down and returned to find his boat floating down the river. The wind blew it and it made its way through the trees. Fortunately, the paddles (which were in his boat) both managed to fall out just at river's edge. His boat was retrieved, albeit with some effort, between Secret C and the S turn. It was a little worse for wear but Wilbur decided to finish the lap regardless. 

Overall another good day.