As the first Shaving of a sawed-off-sportsman and for many years the largest and most proficient swimmer of all the Shavings, clearly I was the number 1 choice for a canoe trip down the Cahaba River. Now the Cahaba River is not known to be treacherous, but as in any canoe adventure there are “The Perils”. My number one concern had always been, “What if the canoe tips over?” to which my sawed-off sportsman father would reply, “So what, it’s all my stuff that would be lost. Besides, canoes CAN’T sink.” This back and forth went on for about two years. Finally, my sawed-off sportsman father decided that the best thing to do is get me over my fear of the canoe tipping over. Clearly the best way to accomplish that is by rowing the canoe into a secluded area of Oak Mountain Lake and then intentionally tipping the canoe over.
Now, my friends at the time couldn’t quite understand why an early morning weekend outing with my father entailed him throwing me out of a boat. My long-time friends and fellow family members knew this to be completely acceptable D&D (Daddy and Daughter) quality time.
So at 7 am on a Saturday morning my sawed-off sportsman father pulls into my apartment community in his white Mazda pick-up truck with the canoe bungee-corded to the roof. I hop in wearing cheap shoes, an old pair of shorts and a t-shirt, and a baseball hat. There was obviously no need for make-up or a brush since the goal of the day was to throw me into the lake on numerous occasions.
So we get to the lake, unload the canoe, strap on our life jackets, and set out of find a nice alcove. (It’s one thing to be dumped out of a canoe, it’s quite another to do it in front of an audience.) We find a suitable place where the water is about 6 feet deep, out of the line of sight, and near the edge of the lake. A final pep talk not to worry because canoes CAN’T sink.
SS: “On the count of three … one … two ..”
S#1: “Don’t count, just do!”
Canoe flips over and we’re both in the water.
SS: “See, that wasn’t so bad now was it?”
S#1: “No, not too bad. What were you saying about canoes can’t sink?”
SS: “Canoes CAN’T sink!”
S#1: “Really? Where’s your canoe?”
SS: “It’s right here … #%!?!”
Glug, glug, glug, the canoe sinks to the bottom of the lake.
MS-L
2/14/2007
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Sunday, July 1, 2007
12a. Rita II
If you are deposited in the Harpeth River often enough, with the tents and food waiting a day’s travel down stream, you learn how to steer a canoe.
If you fish from the bank long enough, with the fish apparently elsewhere, you get a canoe.
If you’re constantly blown around by the wind, while trying to cast from your canoe, you get an electric trolling motor.
If you keep seeing those guys fishing in the middle of the lake and wonder what they know that you don’t, you get sonar.
The Rita II, named after the vessel in The Creature from the Black Lagoon, had the aspirations of a WW II destroyer, some of the equipment and a Captain of occasionally questionable command decisions.
In hindsight the first motorized cruise tempted Providence. Yours truly (180lb), Mike (180lb), Murray (230lb), Lauren, (60lb) and about 60lbs of battery + motor, conducted sea trials on the Cahaba River above the Hwy 280 bridge one Spring afternoon. Excitement muted concern for the water line being only 3in below the gunwales. We did not capsize and Murray caught one bream. Upon return to shore all were unloaded, save the Captain, so as to ‘see what she’ll do’ speed wise with minimum load. This put 240lbs in the stern and the bow in the air. Going straight was not a problem but quick turns were. Another useful insight was that the prop needed to be just below the surface so as to avoid an additional source of unpleasant rolling.
An early modification utilized jumper cables allowing the battery to be placed in the bow which made one man travel pretty level.
As time went by various numbers of the Shavings served as bow ballast but mission creep has kept voyages exciting. Our current state-o-play has made it possible to fish for striper in the summer over an underwater spring. This however requires, in addition to the usual ordinance, a big bait tub, aerator and Shaving 4 throwing the cast net for shad while standing in the bow.
Future development of the Rita II will involve a 2hp gas motor and possibly an outrigger so as to more boldly go off the beach or into the tail race of some nearby dams. I know what you’re thinking; “Fair well and ado to you fair Spanish ladies….”
There is one voyage that has not been made but should have been the first given the canoe’s namesake; a passage that begins as a christening in the storied waters of the Black Lagoon. The fence is not high and when the gate is not open the sign simply says “beach closed”. A determined crew, just before dawn’s bend and the squadrons of black vulture landings begin, could easily hoist the Rita II over the fence. Then with out arguably “opening” the beach, they could hit the water, paddle past the pier, take a right and be on their way in the dawn’s early light amongst the many creatures which still remain. Just a thought.
ML
6/6/07
If you fish from the bank long enough, with the fish apparently elsewhere, you get a canoe.
If you’re constantly blown around by the wind, while trying to cast from your canoe, you get an electric trolling motor.
If you keep seeing those guys fishing in the middle of the lake and wonder what they know that you don’t, you get sonar.
The Rita II, named after the vessel in The Creature from the Black Lagoon, had the aspirations of a WW II destroyer, some of the equipment and a Captain of occasionally questionable command decisions.
In hindsight the first motorized cruise tempted Providence. Yours truly (180lb), Mike (180lb), Murray (230lb), Lauren, (60lb) and about 60lbs of battery + motor, conducted sea trials on the Cahaba River above the Hwy 280 bridge one Spring afternoon. Excitement muted concern for the water line being only 3in below the gunwales. We did not capsize and Murray caught one bream. Upon return to shore all were unloaded, save the Captain, so as to ‘see what she’ll do’ speed wise with minimum load. This put 240lbs in the stern and the bow in the air. Going straight was not a problem but quick turns were. Another useful insight was that the prop needed to be just below the surface so as to avoid an additional source of unpleasant rolling.
An early modification utilized jumper cables allowing the battery to be placed in the bow which made one man travel pretty level.
As time went by various numbers of the Shavings served as bow ballast but mission creep has kept voyages exciting. Our current state-o-play has made it possible to fish for striper in the summer over an underwater spring. This however requires, in addition to the usual ordinance, a big bait tub, aerator and Shaving 4 throwing the cast net for shad while standing in the bow.
Future development of the Rita II will involve a 2hp gas motor and possibly an outrigger so as to more boldly go off the beach or into the tail race of some nearby dams. I know what you’re thinking; “Fair well and ado to you fair Spanish ladies….”
There is one voyage that has not been made but should have been the first given the canoe’s namesake; a passage that begins as a christening in the storied waters of the Black Lagoon. The fence is not high and when the gate is not open the sign simply says “beach closed”. A determined crew, just before dawn’s bend and the squadrons of black vulture landings begin, could easily hoist the Rita II over the fence. Then with out arguably “opening” the beach, they could hit the water, paddle past the pier, take a right and be on their way in the dawn’s early light amongst the many creatures which still remain. Just a thought.
ML
6/6/07
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