feralferret
Veteran Member
CCG, thanks!
Shooter that lyric certainly triggers my memory vault!Thanks, CCG! Slip slidin' away!
Mine also!Shooter that lyric certainly triggers my memory vault!
"Warm"??Later
There was a strange tension in the air. It was amusing to Ian and Nadia who understood, but no one seemed to be ready to pull things out into the open. The only one who wasn’t in the middle of things was Oskar, who seemed to be willfully oblivious.
Everything got packed to leave the first thing in the morning. They all looked at their dry suits with at least a touch of dread. After dinner, they all reviewed the maps and plan for the next leg of the trip.
“So, as long as it goes well, we should make the campground for our next reset in about ten days. John’s notes say it should be big enough we can pull the kayaks inside for repair and resets.” Ian said as he pointed at the maps.
“How are the overnight spots looking?” Oskar asked.
“A couple are going to be tight. Shallow gravel beach with maybe some space for a couple tents for two or three.”
“Maybe if we squeeze into two tents instead of three?” Nadia said with a straight face.
“That might be a good idea. We can Brady Bunch it; three boys in one and three girls in the other.” Mia said quickly.
“Shoot, depending, we could probably fit all of us into one if we had to.” Erich offered up.
“That’d be a bit cozy, but we would be warm, that’s for sure.” Ian said.
On and on they went, looking at the maps and charts, reading the notes and making plans.
Many folks have a tough time keeping track of undergarments . . . . . .I still recall a canoe trip with night rain. I set tent with decent drainage, not in low area. In AM I found a bra on my pillow. I recall people getting in, less room. But I was not expecting a bra. On a church group.
Not sure there were any better options: good news is it might be too soon for a Red Shirt event . . ..Days Later
The weather came upon them at one of the worst places in their route. The inlets they could safely land were too far to run, and islands near them were steep rocks that would shatter the boats to pieces. It didn’t take Nina long to size things up when they came to a spot where she could see west between some of the islands.
“****! Alright…” This was followed by a lot of four-color muttering in the few moments before she keyed the microphone on her radio.
“Big ****ing storm. Raft up. Swim buddies pairs. Deploy sea anchors. Retract rudders. Activate the strobes on your helmets and tighten up everything. We’re stuck in the open and gotta ride it out. Nose to the wind and waves. Issues, sing out.”
One by one, she listened as everyone checked in and acknowledged her instructions. Here it was. She was making the biggest call she could imagine. They were all trusting her leadership on the water. She was their ‘expert’, and now she just made the ‘oh ****’ call of a lifetime to do something she never hoped to have to do, much less command other to do it. This was the water equivalent of a wildland fire crew deploying their fire shelters and hoping the fire will pass over them quick enough they will live.
Her eyes were everywhere. She tried to watch the storm at the same time she watched everyone pair up. The swim buddies were who they were for a reason. Erich was with Ian, Mia and Evelyn were together while she and Oskar were the third pair. This put the two rescue swimmers with the two with the least water experience, leaving Nadia and Oskar together. She already knew how Oskar was in the water.
They had tried to plan for things ‘just in case’ but everyone hoped it didn’t happen. ‘Well, hope is a shitty plan’. She had heard that somewhere.