paddlesnakes

[aldenb]

i thought those guys in those paddlesnake videos were crazy. sure, i had taken some weird flips on the chattooga, but it just couldn't have been the paddlesnake. i guess i just couldn't accept it.

well, that was before i got bit TWICE IN THE SAME RAPID yesterday! both times i went right over on my freakin paddle side! it felt like someone was trying to tear the paddle out of my hands -- this wasn't your normal flip! first it grabbed me right in the meat of the rapid -- nearly pulled my shoulder out! after some underwater chaos, i managed to roll up. then, as if it hadn't had enough (it might have been a second one, but i tend to think the same one just followed me) it grabbed me AGAIN in the funny water at the bottom!

all to the delight, i might add, of my kayaker friend! he has no idea of the power of the paddlesnake.

both times i rolled up i scanned the water, but . .. nothing. i paddled to the takeout using only off-side strokes -- not pretty, but i wasn't taking any chances.

so . . . boaters beware. your kayak friends may make it through that big rapid unscathed, but that's because paddlesnakes are like the rest of us -- they pity those poor fools. either that or all the frantic strokes on both sides confused them. either way, as canoeists, we need to get our strokes in and get them out fast!

so am i alone here getting attacked or has anyone else noticed a proliferation of these evil-doers lately? does it have anything to do with polluted rivers?

Alden

[Space Canoe]

I've always preferred to think of paddlesnakes as Karmic creatures, so Alden, ‘fess up, what evil evil thing did you do in order to deserve TWO attacks on the SAME rapid????
I think you’re right about “Kayak Pity”; double-bladers don’t get attacked because they are Karmic roaches by virtue of their paddle choice alone!!
HEEHEE!
RT