Years after my first paddle on the Tat, Bob mentioned that there was too much action on the Tat that day! Do you believe it? It’s true. Read on.
After countless days and months of practicing my rolls and my moves in my kayak, it was time to try out the mighty Tat. I was well prepared. I had my much-loved Infiniti kayak that I bought from Bob. Do you remember the mighty Infiniti kayaks? Long and lean – it definitely was not a potato chip boat for sure! I had on my lovely red wet suit I also bought from Bob. So what if the gussets were leaking?
On the fateful day, I had my friends Maytag Theresa and Dave with me for support and they also vowed to rescue me if needed. We thought going in medium/high water levels was a very good idea. Nice big waves.
So we started off and the Blanchard River was a lot of fun. And then onto the Tat and we hit the first set of rapids – the Rock Gardens and over I went. No roll was to be found. But Theresa was there to rescue me and I was nearly at shore but then became distracted…..floating down upside down was Dave holding onto his bright yellow kayak. Off I went onto into the second rapids the Big C – still holding my boat and holding onto Theresa’s kayak. But then boom, she was over too. And to go for the full experience, I also floated through the last big rapids – Twin Holes. Dan then came along and tried to rescue me as well and at least he recovered my paddle. He followed me along my wild ride. I had never met him before and later found out that this was his first time down the Tat too. By this time, I was very cold and had experienced a big brain freeze. Finally, I decided it was time to get to shore with the help of Bob. Bob always was there for everyone. I wonder how many people he rescued over the years? Hundreds for sure. He was in a raft with clients that were taking in all the action. I was close to being hypothermic and Bob gave me some warm clothes to put on. Dan was there too with my paddle. Dan shared with me his excellent sandwich and Toblerone chocolate bar. At the time, I was a single gal that could not cook. I was amazed by Dan’s lunch. It is also noteworthy that I have been told that I had the longest swim on the Tat ever. Hmmmm – not sure this is a good accomplishment.
When Maytag Theresa also dumped and was holding onto her pink kayak floating along just before Twin Holes. She decided to go to shore for a rest. Richard was in the rowing frame that day and thought Theresa was in trouble. He got distracted, missed his line, and flipped in Twin Holes. He couldn’t swim very well so Maytag got into Bob Hanley’s raft and together they rescued him.
This was the first time I met Dan and he later became my husband and has been rescuing me and making delicious food ever since! I went on to kayak the Tat without incident many times. Maytag Theresa after many rinse cycles became TurnBack Theresa. She married Bob on the River. And the rest is history.
This past November, Dan and I had a lovely dinner at Bob’s and Theresa’s. We were laughing about that day on the Tat more than 25 years ago. We remembered a piece of the story about that crazy day. Bob mentioned that his clients in the raft were wondering what was going on. There were 3 kayaks upside down going through rapids, the rowing frame was also over and needed to be rescued. He remarked that there was too much action on the Tat that day.
