Paddle of the Sexes: June 2018

Hello everyone! This is Rebecca, Ground Crew Captain for Paddle of the Sexes. Long time reader, first time blogger. I’ve been asked to contribute a post about my role in this journey of Paddle of the Sexes in light of recent events. I will start in December 2017, when I first became aware of the MR340. I was sitting at lunch when Jeff (It appears that most people refer to him as Jeffery) told of this great adventure that he and his friend, Danielle, were going to take on this summer. He talked about the race and how they were going to register the day registration opened on January 1^st. I told him how cool it sounded and then asked how long he and Danielle had been paddling together. Needless to say, I was shocked by his answer… Anyway, he continued on and talked about all that was required during the MR340 race, one of those requirement is a ground crew captain. The whole thing sounded exciting so I volunteered my services right away!

Fast forward to May 5, 2018, my first time at the helm of ground crew captain duties for Jeff and Danielle's first paddle on the Missouri River. I prepped with Jeff the week prior. We talked about where they would put in (Klondike), what construction there was on the way, and how far they would paddle (Frontier Park). Jeff also made me an awesome binder with maps and numbers for Sheriff's departments; we made the occasional joke about me having to pull them out of the river or call the police. May 5^th went well! It was my first time meeting Danielle and seeing her and Jeff work together. We exchanged information, became Facebook friends, and set up our check in times. We had a check in time of every 30 minutes. During check ins I receive a text telling me the time and the River Mile of their current location. That day I just stayed close to the river and made sure they made their check in times…easy. The day was a success!

On Sunday May 27^th my role was a bit different. Jeff and Danielle started in the Kansas City area and paddled to Lexington while I was at home near St. Louis. We set up a check in time of every hour because everything went so well the last time. The paddle went well and they met all the check in times…piece of cake, right?

Here is where it gets dicey. On June 16^th they embarked on their 3^rd paddle on the Missouri River. We set up the same parameters as before: check in every hour with the River Mile (RM). I received my first check in at 7:13 AM to let me know they were departing at Dalton Bottoms and had plans to go to Boonville/Franklin with a check in of every hour.

The next text came through at 7:50 AM letting me know they were at RM 236. Great! At around 8:30 AM I went to Busch Wildlife with my husband and kids to do a little fishing for Father’s Day. It was short lived and we got back into the car at about 9:15 AM. There had been no check in from Jeff and Danielle. I casually mentioned to my husband that there hadn’t been a check in. He seemed a bit concerned and encouraged me to give them a call. So at 9:30 AM I called both Jeff and Danielle with both calls going to voice mail. I followed that with a text saying “Haven’t heard from you in a while.” No response. I followed it up by another call to each one and a text that said “If I don’t hear from you by 10 I will panic!” No Response. I began calling each of them about every 2 minutes while trying to assure myself that they just did not have cell service.

By 10:15 AM I didn’t know what to do! We hadn’t actually put a plan in place if there was an emergency. Who do I call? What about their families? How do I contact them? Where do I think they are on the river? So I did what any other person would do, I turned to Facebook! I had seen a post about Danielle doing a fundraiser with her mom so I when to Danielle’s Facebook page, found her mom and sent her mom a message. I didn’t want to ensue panic but did want to know if she had heard from Danielle while trying to reassure her I was sure I hadn’t heard due to lack of cell service. Danielle's mom had not heard from Danielle. Next thing was to look up Jeff’s sisters, who I had never met, and see if either of them had heard from him. They hadn’t.

By 10:55 AM after getting everyone panicked and continuing to call and text I decided I had no other choice but to alert the authorities, but who do I alert???? I calmly got out the binder Jeff made for me with all the County Sheriff's numbers. I then looked at the last check in from 7:50 AM at RM 236 then referenced that on the River Mile chart of the Missouri River. I gauged about where I thought they might be when we lost contact and estimated it to be in Howard County, Missouri. Finally, I made one last call to Jeff and left a voicemail telling him that I was calling the Sheriff's department. I hung up the phone took a deep breath and called the Howard County Sheriff at 11:00 AM.

I was put in contact with the nicest dispatcher! I explained to her that I wasn’t sure what to do but that I had two friends paddling the Missouri River in a canoe and that I had not been in contact with them for 3 hours and I was hoping it was just due to lack of cell service. She responded with “Well there has been one accident…” Just then my phone made a BEEP BEEP like a text was coming through! It was Jeff with the best text ever that said “We r ok!” I yelled “Oh my gosh I just got a text that said they are ok!” She told me she was relieved and I thanked her so much for her help. After breathing a sigh of relief, I contacted all the family members I probably sent into a panic and let them know that all was well.

It is hard to believe that the event is so close! The next month will be an exciting time of planning and tying up loose ends to make the race as seamless as possible! During the actual MR340 Race there are safety boats on the water from the MR340 organizers. If a boat goes 'missing' I can contact MR340 and they will send a safety boat to look for the 'missing' boat. Additionally, Danielle and Jeff will have a SpotTracker GPS to send updates via text to me; the SpotTracker does not rely on cell tower service, thankfully!

Jeffrey and Danielle here... We have an AMAZING ground crew captain. THANK YOU to Rebecca for springing into action to make sure we were safe! Dalton Bottoms to Franklin Island is 43.9 miles. The trip took us 7 hours, at an average pace of 6.27 miles per hour. The water was incredibly choppy, which made it more difficult to text and check in when we finally got service; any time one of us took our hands off the paddle we would quickly become broadside in the river, which is dangerous and can cause the boat to tip over. We are excited to get our SpotTracker so that cell service is not needed to check in!

Dropping the car at Franklin Island before sunrise

Dalton, Population 17

Getting ready to depart Dalton Bottoms!

Danielle's rear-view mirror. #controlfreak

Danielle serving up some Little House on the Prairie bonnet realness, and Jeff in his last-minute $4 emergency hat from Wal-Mart.

Bald Eagle sitting on a log.

Boonville Bridge!

Dalton Bottoms to Franklin Island/Boonville: Done!

Driving back to Dalton Bottoms to retrieve our car!

PANIC.

Kansas City skyline from Kaw Point at 7am.

Memorial Day weekend we made our longest trip yet on the Mighty MO: 51.5 miles from Kansas City (Kaw Point) to Lexington, Missouri. It was hot (94 degrees), which is great training for the MR340 race in late July. We finished our trip in 7 1/2 hours! Our average rate was 6.87 miles per hour, which is promising! During the actual trip we will need to average 5.56 miles per hour between Kaw Point and Lexington to beat the cutoff time.

This trip, we sought to really focus on navigating the river. "Navigating? Why would you need to navigate a river that goes straight?" We navigate the river not so we don't get lost, but so that we stay in the fastest channel possible. Fast channel = more mph = quicker finish = less time without sleep!

Although we do have printed maps that show us where to stay in the channel, we rely primarily on the channel makers used by the river barges. There are passing markers (stay on that side of the river) and crossing markers (cross to the other side of the river):

(source: MR340 Paddler, River Navigation)

In addition to the markers, we have to watch out for buoys and wing dikes. Buoys are 8-10 feet tall and are tied down by a chain in the river by a concrete block. These can be incredibly dangerous because they can move without notice if a tree becomes stuck on the chain, underneath the water, out of sight. Even more terrifying, they can become totally submerged and pop up without warning. Buoys can be red (should be on the left of the canoe) or green (should be on the right of the canoe).

Wing dikes, or wing dams, are human-made damns that protrude partially into the river. They slow the water near river banks to help decrease erosion. These too can become submerged, posing a danger for our kevlar canoe which would become punctured or shredded if we traveled over a partially submerged wing dike.

These dangers (buoys and wing dikes) and our desire to stay in the channel result in our canoe traveling down the Missouri River in a crisscross pattern: moving from the left side of the river (red markers) to the right side of the river (green markers):

(source: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers River Navigation Charts)

This is why practicing on the Missouri River is important during our training. Although we miss the ability to splish splash in the water, we will be thankful come late July when navigating the Mighty Mo is second nature!