2004-04-04 RR AD 3 – daylight savings springs ahead

Not everyone had set their clocks ahead for daylight savings time so it was a much slower than normal start.  Shortly after 9AM, Ed Arenz and Steve Eurista took off in their C1’s (solo racing canoes).  Then Al Dubois and I took off in Al’s old P10 tandem racing canoe because Al had to be done by 11:30, even though he always wants to paddle for more hours.  Since we were actually starting an hour earlier, the temperature was still in the 30’s so we were both wearing gloves and boots.  We paddled easy on the far side of the Rum River to the first bend upstream from the Anoka Fairgrounds boat launch and then turned back to pick up the others.

Kenn Ketter & Marsh Jones passed us coming upstream in a Jensen 18 which is a more stable, but a bit slower canoe than the skinnier racing canoes.  Al and I paddled all the way back to the boat launch and the rest of the canoers were still standing around the vehicles trying to figure out who was paddling with who since some of their partners had forgotten daylight savings.  We turned back upstream again.   The second time we circled back, we picked up Lee Jarpey and Keith Canny, but the other two tandem canoes were still waiting for their partners to show up.  

We paddled on upstream taking turns riding each other’s side wake.  Lee and Keith had been paddling everyday for 7 days in a row.  That gave Al and I an edge whenever we punched it coming into a shallows.  Lee and Keith were just letting us go today.  There were other times in the past when they had pulled away from us in the shallow water sprints.  Then we pulled back alongside one another and continued upstream, talking smart to one another as we went.  Now and then, we see muskrats diving along the shore, pairs of ducks flushing, and pairs of geese guarding their turf.  It was getting harder to notice the hornet nests above the shoreline with the leaves coming out.

We caught up with Ed Arenz and Steve Eurista waiting for us at the top of the shortcut.  The shortcut was a smaller branch of the Rum River that cut off a small part of the faster shallower main channel.  Steve Eurista turned back downstream and left us with 2 tandems and 1 C1 chasing Kenn and Marsh who were still up ahead.  They were waiting at the sandbar, but took off as soon as they saw us coming around the bend.  Ed was the first to catch them just ahead of Al and I.   We caught up to them and passed them on the shoreline side, we said we have to turn back.  Ed gave us come crap about not being able to pass him, but we convinced them all to turn back with us. 

Chuck Ryan passed us on his way upstream alone.  Al asked him something about the upcoming Rum River race he was organizing and he said it was cancelled and that he had posted it on the MCA website.  That surprised us because we haven’t been watching the website.  Between other people and pets at home and spending a lot of time paddling, I am limited on the amount of time available to scan websites. That’s why some of us need emails and/or phone calls to stay connected. 

The next canoe we met coming upstream was Dave Dahl and Brett Thunstrom.  They turned back downstream to come along with us.  We paddled 4 canoes side by side down to the sandbar island and picked up Todd Ellison and Joe Manns who turned back downstream with us as well.  Then we had 5 canoes at rode each others wakes.  Occasionally trying to outsprint each other whenever we came to shallow water. 

Once we got back to the boat launch in Anoka, Al, Marsh, Kenn, Keith, Lee, Brett and I got out.  Dave jumped back in a tandem canoe with Ed and took off back upstream for more paddling with Todd and Joe.  Kenn, Marsh, Brett, Lee, and I went to Dunn Brothers.  Lee and I filled out the form for the upcoming Snake River Canoe Race in Mora, Minnesota.  I won’t say how old we are this time, but we signed up for the “over 100 combined age, open racing, men’s category.  Our new arch rivals who had the fastest overall aluminum canoe time last year, Keith Canny and Doug Berg, were going to get a run for their money this year.  According to a recent email from Keith, Lee and I were going to be “the 3^rd fastest aluminum canoe team” behind Fred and Micki Ramen.  It promises to be a fun race no matter what happens.