Buffalo Bayou Regatta (Safety)
March 7, 2020
by Kent Walters
Well, we did it again.
We had a good safety boat turnout from the Houston Canoe Club this year. We met at 6:30 to run a shuttle, which was sabotaged when one of the members felt ill and bailed. It all wired out, as it always does, with goodwill of the members.
We departed in 5 waves, the first at 9:00 and the last at about 10:10. We were split up in all 5 waves and mixed with about an equal number from the Army Corps of Engineers, so each person had a different experience. As I understand it, all witnessed their fair share of capsizes. Harmon and I were together, so I can report from our point of view.
Harmon spent almost the entire launch period up to his waist in water helping the contestants get loaded. He was feeling a little winded and hypothermic by the time we started our sweep/broom combination – drafting the very last boats, following the slowest of the slow.
The flow was decent, from a release of 300 cfs from the dam at about midnight. Our passage was fairly uneventful, with one capsize out of a SOT that pulled himself together fairly quickly and without much help from us.
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Good Flow
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Karl Brown, US Army
Corps of Engineers
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The second capsize was spectacular – I wish I had thought to take a photo. Picture this: Four really obnoxious guys (loud, profane, with music and lots of beer) had their two canoes tied together (what could go wrong?). We were in the process of getting permission to pass them up and leave them to the Search and Rescue boats when we came around a bend and saw both canoes upside down and the guys trying to get their boats emptied and floating again. It took quite a while, and Harmon and I were recovering a LOT of stuff. They finally got back in their canoes and were paddling with more of a purpose by the time the SAR people arrived in their power boat.
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Harmon pondering
the branch
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By the time we paddled to the finish line, the finish line was gone, the vendors were gone, the displays were gone, the food was gone (even the banana, chips and oranges), and most of the people and their boats were gone. The sponsor's boat butlers were still on duty, so we got a good assist as we came into Allen's landing.
Constantine had recovered his van and trailer from our put-in, and he gave me and my boats a ride back to the put-in (Thanks Constantine). Harmon's truck was the one car that was left at the take-out from the truncated shuttle, so he was whole.
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Gage
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Map |
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The author, Kent Walters |