So I told the girls we'd rent kayaks somewhere else, like maybe a river so we wouldn't get all salt-water sticky (the class was held in a quiet ocean cove off Wolfe's Neck), to try it again.
The equipment we were given at the river was not nearly as nice as what we used with the LL Bean class but everything appeared in working order even if the life vests were less than comfortable (they were the classic orange ones).
After the friendly guy from the outfitters dumped all our gear on the beach, Fino and L. got in their kayaks and were headed around the first bend of the river before G. and I were. Fino hit the faster moving water first and when L. saw him cruising along, she got nervous and stopped paddling.
I yelled to L. to paddle but she just let the current take her along and by the time I realized that she was going to hit the stump in the middle of the river, I couldn't get to her in time.
L. flipped over.
I paddled as quickly as I could over to her but not being a proficient paddler myself, it wasn't the most direct - or controlled - approach. But the river was only about three feet and L. had stood up after the flip and was grabbing for her Webkinz puppy before she walked herself to shore.
But the flip had really taken her by surprise and shaken her up so she was crying when I reached her.
Fino grabbed her paddle in the middle of the river while some very nice 30-something guys in a canoe grabbed her kayak and floating lunch box and brought them to the shore. We dumped out the water and dragged it to our other kayaks while L. continued hugging her puppy and sniffling.
While I was talking to L. and sharing a giggle with her about how she can never be without one of her Webkinz at all times, a man with a camera (that looked pricey and professional) walked over to us.
It turned out he was from The Conway Daily Sun and took photos of L.'s flip. He was watching that particular area because the newspaper was doing a story about a mother who had complained to the newspaper about the lack of signage and information about the dangers of the river.
The photographer asked L. her name and commented that she handled her flip well - and that she was able to get her puppy out of the water so quickly. She introduced him to Meggie while she wiped her tears away and I shared with him how we had taken a kayaking class earlier in the week so L. wasn't totally clueless about kayaking. L. told him she was surprised by the current so she got nervous and forgot to paddle away from the stump.
Since L. wasn't keen to get back in to her kayak right away, Fino linked hers with mine and L. walked along the shore while I paddled down a short stretch of the river. The Saco is not deep (about 3 feet deep or less in most places) and the sandy pebbled shore made it easy walking for her.
L. got in her kayak a short time later and after the second patch of faster moving water with me in the lead, she handled it well and gained some of her confidence back. We paddled about four miles down the river without further incident. In the van on the way back to the outfitters to get our car, L. told me that Meggie thought the trip was OK but kayaking was not her favorite thing to do.
On Saturday morning I went to The Conway Daily Sun website and found photos of L. on the front page accompanying the story about the river. The story was about a Rhode Island mother and her son who flipped over (in the same spot as L.) in a rented a canoe.
I think a heads-up that there are a couple of faster moving parts to the river would have been helpful to me because I would have tested the current out first in my kayak instead of letting L. get ahead of me in hers. That was my fault for not taking the lead initially (no one at the outfitter office or delivery guy said a word about a river current).
But the current wasn't unmanageable, just not what I had expected. I am familiar with the stories about the partying that goes on the Saco River so I never thought to ask about the river's current because I figured it wasn't anything to worry about. And other than a handful of spots, the rest of the river was in fact slow and easy and offered some very pleasant paddling (and although there was some partying on various part of the shore along the river, it was not too crowded or crazy because it was a weekday).
So on one hand I agree with the mom that a warning sign at the put-in location would have been nice. But what I can't get my head around was what this mom was thinking when she took her 4-year-old out on the river in a canoe knowing she did not know how to swim (see the newspaper story below).
As for L., she is no worse for the wear after her kayak flip -- she's been initiated to the "club" so to speak. And she couldn't wait to tell all of her friends she was in the newspaper.
"I'm famous ... and look, you can sort of see Meggie too," she told me with a big grin on her face after I printed out the paper's front page.
To her friends upon showing them the print out, "Yeah, I didn't like that stinking kayak too much when I flipped over but I saved Meggie and we paddled 4-miles afterwards."
L. and Meggie down river
Here's the text of the story since it's not easy to find in the .pdf format they have on that newspaper's website:
- By Nate Giarnese, The Conway Daily Sun
CONWAY - A flurry of e-mails by a "panicked" mom detailing her frightening ordeal on the Saco River has river guides reminding inexperienced canoeists that common sense is key for a good time on what is generally considered a family friendly river.
Pamela Bhatia was on vacation when she was sucked under by a swift current that dumped her young son out of a canoe during what she describes as a heart-stopping brush with death over the July 4 weekend.
"I can't get these knots out of my stomach of what could have happened and I can't wipe out the image of Kamran's head in the water under that canoe," wrote the Rhode Island mom in an email widely circulated among river watchers and officials.
"Kamran's Warning - this river can be swift and unpredictable and is unsafe for small children and inexperienced swimmers," she said is a message that should be posted. "This would have been enough to stop us - it is a start to help other parents." The rental company where she got the canoe says it's not that simple.
Northern Extremes, says the woman ignored simple directions and safety instructions and refused to take responsibility for her own children, returning to the shop yelling and in tears after floating too far down an "extremely safe" stretch of river. The company said it was her own panicked reaction that caused her boat to flip somewhere east of First Bridge in North Conway, and her inability to swim or even float that was at the root of the scare.
"At some point Americans have to start to take responsibility for their actions," said Stephanie Manson, who owns the Conway outfit with her husband.
"It's not a dangerous river, this is not white water."
Bhatia, who declined to give her phone number and could not be contacted beyond by e-mail, overturned the same day a Massachusetts woman who apparently couldn't swim waded over her head in Albany's Iona Lake and drowned in seven feet of water, with friends perched nearby in a boat.
Bhaita said hers wasn't the only boat to flip that day. She left New Hampshire feeling regulations and warnings were not in place to prepare her to fend for herself in the "middle of nowhere."
"There are more precautions taken before you ride the tea cups at Story Land than on a 7-mile stretch of running river in the wilderness," she wrote.
Bob Tagliafferi, head of a river group promoting safe, eco-friendly recreation on the Saco in Maine and New Hampshire, said it sounded as if Manson handled it properly, including having the woman sign a safety waiver. While Bhatia, he said, suffered "an unfortunate series of events that happened quickly," and walked away "looking to assign blame."
"No doubt she had a frightening experience," he said. "Thankfully no one was seriously injured, hopefully something can be learned from this."
Manson said she gave Bhatia standard instructions and warned the family their two kids wouldn't fit safely in a canoe. Yet Bhatia's husband was "adamant" that they go out, Manson said, so the family opted for a rubber raft which they lashed to the canoe with a rope.
"We won't even rent to somebody with kids if no one in the group can't swim," Manson added. "I know I did everything right."
She said the woman was too preoccupied listening in on another rental agent discuss alcohol policy with another group to pay attention.
Still exhaling from her terrifying plunge, Bhatia e-mailed many, including state Rep Tom Buco, DConway, at midnight Sunday detailing her plight and begging for her message to be spread. She offered to pay for signs warning the river is unsafe for children, urging the rental company to remove a picture from its Web site of a baby in a kayak with its parents because she said it sends a false sense of safety. "I told her I was sorry she had such a terrifying time on our river," said Buco, who planned to discuss the incident with outfitters and said safety standards must be set at a level to protect even the least prepared boaters. "It has to be safe for everybody."
Mary Seavey, a local woman who helped rescue a woman floundering in shallow rapids Saturday, said a glut of rude and foolhardy tourists venturing out unsafely or disrespectfully has made the river a must to avoid on holiday weekends. “It was a nightmare," said Seavey, who was out for a paddle when a woman, whose story is strikingly similar to Bhatia's and on the same day, went under. It was unclear whether it was the same woman or a separate incident, but Seavey saw a multitude of boaters behaving badly. "People didn't care what their kids were doing," she said."The river was full of rude people. Kids were throwing rocks." Seavey stopped to attempt to help the "panicked" woman, who despite wearing a life vest, was being dunked underwater in a stretch in Conway near rocks and steep sandy cliffs.
She said the heavy-set woman, who she doubts was Bhatia because of the description of the boats and her husband, was thankful after she was helped. But she clearly had no idea what she was doing. She had kids on a raft tied to her craft by ropes stretched across a wide expanse of water. They snagged and the woman went over when she hit a rock, she said. "What these people did was absolutely ... I can't imagine tying things up like that," Seavey said. "The kids were rude, they were screeching." She noted with disdain that a group on shore ignored the struggling woman who was eventually pulled from the river by two teens.
Seavey has since sworn off hitting the Saco on big weekends, despite the best efforts of rental outfi ts to educate their renters - Tagliafferi said outfitters' boats comprise only a third of the as many as 3,000 folks who can be on the river at one time because of a lack of "courtesyâ" and the safety risks it presents. "I'm sure Stephanie gave them all the rules. She's not the river police, she's running a good business," Seavey said. "It was people who think they know what they're doing but don't."
Bhatia, who hails from the Ocean State town of North Smithfield, complained on her trip of brushes with booze, including two girls whose canoe she said was lodged in the rocks and whom she said she hit. She said she didn't know whether to blame her own family's inexperience, or that of the "partying" duo, who had loaded into their canoe a cooler and a dog. Either way, she said rafting rental companies turn a "blind eye" to alcohol, and that officials should better regulate the waters. Manson rents floating coolers, but says she tells renters she does not "condone" public drinking, even though for many boaters and riverside campers, beer is an entirely legal staple of a relaxing trip. “I can't tell people they can't have a good time and have a beer on the river," Manson said. "I say, "I don't have the right to look in your cooler"."
Tagliafferi said there are no state laws against alcohol on the river itself, but laws governing drinking at landings vary by state and location. Moderate drinking he said can be part of safe, responsible outing. It's only a "small percentage" - heavy problem drinkers - he said his group has set out to chase off.
Conway police Lt. Christopher Perley said Conway's scarcity of open beaches where large groups can congregate contributes to Conway having fewer problems with alcohol and disturbances than across the border in Maine, where agreements with large landowners provide ample public party spots. "There's less places to stop," he said. Tagliafferi, executive director of the Saco River Recreation Council, said the wild Saco, while not a controlled amusement like a theme park ride, is an "extremely safe river." "Still, it should be approached with respect. “It is not without risks," he said.
The council is working with state and local authorities to educate boaters about responsible camping and to bring more policing "to curb this activity no one wants to be around." Tagliafferi said police this weekend will be at put-ins along with council members, part of a bid to remind boaters to pick up trash and to fend off those who badly abuse the river. "Sooner or later they will find somewhere else to go, realizing they're not wanted around here," said Tagliafferi, who owns outfitter Saco Bound. "It's a busy weekend coming up and there will patrols out there." His advice to unsure boaters new to the river: "If you don't know, ask questions. Overall it's a great activity for families," he said. When in doubt, you can always get out of a canoe in shallows before approaching uncertain waters. One warning could be a lifesaver: Watch out for fallen trees, called strainers. "Even with a life vest, it can drag you under," he said. Tree trunks and limbs don't impede the speedy current, whose force likely eroded a dirt bank and caused the tree to drop, but branches can strain out boats and people, a "every dangerous" situation. This time of year, though, water levels are low and the current is mild, unlike spring when ice melt and rains can swell rivers over their banks and to unsafe heights.
A week before Bhatia's incident, Manson said the flow was considerably higher when Northern Extremes sponsored 30 boats for a Girl Scout river cleanup. Like most days no serious incidents were reported. "It was a beautiful day. It's a really safe river," she said, adding still, "It is a river in New Hampshire, there's no McDonald's on the side or EMT's on that river."
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