It was 8 years ago. There were so many messages on rbp back then.
Probably as many in a week as there are in a year now. And the most
prolific poster of all was Scott Bristow. I had never met him in
person, and yet I loved him like a brother. Trusted him so much I left
him the key to my house so he'd have a place to stay when he came to
paddle Great Falls of the Potomac on Thanksgiving Weekend 1998.

He stayed at my house, sure. He and Joe and Julie drove up from
Atlanta. I was having Thanksgiving with family in Virginia Beach. But
I was coming back on Saturday and we were all meeting for dinner that
evening. Not just me and Joe and Julie and Scott - but David and
Sheila and Matt and Rebecca and lots more. It was going to be a
rec.boats.paddle get together. And then I got the call.

It was 4 in the afternoon. I was running a nice hot bath in
anticipation of our night out. I almost didn't answer the phone. But
then, I was leading a club trip the next day and it might be a paddler.
So I got up and answered the phone. I still remember David' voice.

"We lost Scott at Great Falls today."

And with those words an era ended.

I don't think I've ever been so affected by loss - except for my baby
sister and my dad. It's still unfathomable to me how I still grive
for Scott, and now 8 years have passed.

We memorialized his passing for a while by paddling the GW Canal loop
because that's what a bunch of us (including newborn Rowan Chapelle -
just 2 weeks up and bunting'ed up in a pfd) were doing as Scott
perished at Charlie's hole.

I wonder if anyone still paddles that loop in his memory. We'd always
do it the Saturday after Thanksgiving because that's what felt right,
rather than the 28th.

This year, on the 28th, I'll be landing for a business trip in Juneau,
Alaska. I've never been to Alaska and there's 45 inches of snow on the
ground right now and its dark. Never mind. I'll look for Scott in the
night sky - maybe he'll show in the Northern Lights.

I havern't had a cry like this in a good long time.

I remember that time and think of it now and then, was not there, but read
all about the untimely event and attended the first memorial paddle. Still
have some of the old RPB stickers someone designed, one is of Scott with
hand paddles. Never personally new him, I'm sure others remember as well.
Love to see the Northern Lights up close some day.


"Mothra" wrote in message
ups.com...
It was 8 years ago. There were so many messages on rbp back then.
Probably as many in a week as there are in a year now. And the most
prolific poster of all was Scott Bristow. I had never met him in
person, and yet I loved him like a brother. Trusted him so much I left
him the key to my house so he'd have a place to stay when he came to
paddle Great Falls of the Potomac on Thanksgiving Weekend 1998.

He stayed at my house, sure. He and Joe and Julie drove up from
Atlanta. I was having Thanksgiving with family in Virginia Beach. But
I was coming back on Saturday and we were all meeting for dinner that
evening. Not just me and Joe and Julie and Scott - but David and
Sheila and Matt and Rebecca and lots more. It was going to be a
rec.boats.paddle get together. And then I got the call.

It was 4 in the afternoon. I was running a nice hot bath in
anticipation of our night out. I almost didn't answer the phone. But
then, I was leading a club trip the next day and it might be a paddler.
So I got up and answered the phone. I still remember David' voice.

"We lost Scott at Great Falls today."

And with those words an era ended.

I don't think I've ever been so affected by loss - except for my baby
sister and my dad. It's still unfathomable to me how I still grive
for Scott, and now 8 years have passed.

We memorialized his passing for a while by paddling the GW Canal loop
because that's what a bunch of us (including newborn Rowan Chapelle -
just 2 weeks up and bunting'ed up in a pfd) were doing as Scott
perished at Charlie's hole.

I wonder if anyone still paddles that loop in his memory. We'd always
do it the Saturday after Thanksgiving because that's what felt right,
rather than the 28th.

This year, on the 28th, I'll be landing for a business trip in Juneau,
Alaska. I've never been to Alaska and there's 45 inches of snow on the
ground right now and its dark. Never mind. I'll look for Scott in the
night sky - maybe he'll show in the Northern Lights.

I havern't had a cry like this in a good long time.

Mothra wrote:

"We lost Scott at Great Falls today."

And with those words an era ended.

Every year around this time, the memories of those days in November '98
come back strongly. It was painful to deal with, but the positive side
was to see all those people come together and support each other. It's
amazing how much the loss of one person can mean to so many others.

I agree, RBP never was the same after that. :-(

For those RBP'ers who don't know who we're talking about, here's a bit mo

http://kayaker.nl/scott.html



To meet someone,
To truly meet someone,
Is to have a light come on,
In a room of your mind,
You did not know was there.

That light will not be extinguished.
That room will not be forgotten.

--
Wilko van den Bergh wilkoa t)dse(d o tnl
Eindhoven The Netherlands Europe
---Look at the possibilities, don't worry about the limitations.---
http://kayaker.nl/

"Grip" wrote in
:

I remember that time and think of it now and then, was not there, but
read all about the untimely event and attended the first memorial
paddle. Still have some of the old RPB stickers someone designed, one
is of Scott with hand paddles.

I've got a collection of the images that were submitted for the R.B.P. t-
shirts that were produced (I've got two of them).

http://mayfly.mannlib.cornell.edu/gr...bpsticker1.jpg

and a full photo of Scott he

http://mayfly.mannlib.cornell.edu/gr...king/rbp-s.gif

Yep, the first one is the one's I still have


"John Fereira" wrote in message
.. .
"Grip" wrote in
:

I remember that time and think of it now and then, was not there, but
read all about the untimely event and attended the first memorial
paddle. Still have some of the old RPB stickers someone designed, one
is of Scott with hand paddles.

I've got a collection of the images that were submitted for the R.B.P. t-
shirts that were produced (I've got two of them).

http://mayfly.mannlib.cornell.edu/gr...bpsticker1.jpg

and a full photo of Scott he

http://mayfly.mannlib.cornell.edu/gr...king/rbp-s.gif

Mothra wrote:
It was 8 years ago.
[...]
"We lost Scott at Great Falls today."
[...]


Apparently Scott could not roll upright and so he exited the boat and
was pulled down into the hole. Makes me wonder why ww kayaks could not
be fitted with snorkels.

wrote:
Mothra wrote:
It was 8 years ago.
[...]
"We lost Scott at Great Falls today."
[...]


Apparently Scott could not roll upright and so he exited the boat and
was pulled down into the hole. Makes me wonder why ww kayaks could not
be fitted with snorkels.

Actually, from seeing the video of his attempts to get out of Charlie's
hole, Scott was tossed around in the hole quite violently. I can only
assume that he realized that he couldn't escape the hole while still in
his boat, so he bailed out. A snorkel in his boat probably wouldn't have
made a difference, since Scott and his boat went their separate ways
shortly after he bailed out.

Having seen the hole up close, and realizing how the currents and rocks
there are located, I doubt that anyone with a snorkel would have had any
better chance than he had. It's not a place where you want to be as a
swimmer!

Dragorossi has added a special tube to the rear compartment of their
latest kayak, which, according to Corran Addison, could give someone
five to ten minutes of spare air. I'm not sure what good that would have
done in this particular situation, where the boater was separated from
his kayak... :-(

--
Wilko van den Bergh wilkoa t)dse(d o tnl
Eindhoven The Netherlands Europe
---Look at the possibilities, don't worry about the limitations.---
http://kayaker.nl/

Exactly, Wilko! I'm not even sure Scott chose to exit the boat. As
you'll remember, the video showed him getting violently cartwheeled and
then it seemed the hole just sucked him under and all we could see was
his helmet bobbing. From all reports his boat and paddle came out
shortly thereafter, and after about a minute or so, the helmet too. I
for one am not convinced that he wasn't torn out of his boat. Either
way, I can't see him sucking air from a snorkel in that hole - would
work in a heads down pin perhaps, but I'm with you - not in that hole,
not ever. I think Bobby (who was there and saw it firsthand) said it
best: "I always knew Charlie's was bad, but I didn't know how bad
until I saw Scott in there."

Wilko wrote:
wrote:
Mothra wrote:
It was 8 years ago.
[...]
"We lost Scott at Great Falls today."
[...]


Apparently Scott could not roll upright and so he exited the boat and
was pulled down into the hole. Makes me wonder why ww kayaks
could not be fitted with snorkels.

Actually, from seeing the video of his attempts to get out of Charlie's
hole, Scott was tossed around in the hole quite violently. I can only
assume that he realized that he couldn't escape the hole while still in
his boat, so he bailed out. A snorkel in his boat probably wouldn't have
made a difference, since Scott and his boat went their separate ways
shortly after he bailed out.

Having seen the hole up close, and realizing how the currents and rocks
there are located, I doubt that anyone with a snorkel would have had any
better chance than he had. It's not a place where you want to be as a
swimmer!

Dragorossi has added a special tube to the rear compartment of their
latest kayak, which, according to Corran Addison, could give someone
five to ten minutes of spare air. I'm not sure what good that would have
done in this particular situation, where the boater was separated from
his kayak... :-(

It certainly seems you are much, much safer if you can stay in the
boat, and to remain motivated to stay in the boat some form of
snorkel/air tube could certainly help -- and this is just an obvious
and trivial $3 bit of plastic. It could be standard equipment on ww
kayaks.

wrote:

It certainly seems you are much, much safer if you can stay in the
boat, and to remain motivated to stay in the boat some form of
snorkel/air tube could certainly help -- and this is just an obvious
and trivial $3 bit of plastic. It could be standard equipment on ww
kayaks.

We're talking class V white water in this case, with a pretty decent
volume of water in the case of Charlie's hole at that day. I don't
believe for one moment that you can stay upside down in your boat in
that hole and still breathe through a snorkel. You're being tossed
around violently and there is a lot of water being poured on top of you.

I can think of plenty of similar situations where the water is moving so
violently that even being able to hold the pipe of the snorkel above the
surface is not possible. Besides, considering that it's probably not
possible for your buddies to get to you (without taking an enormous risk
themselves) and with you being unable to see what they are doing, a
rescue effort from shore can be a daunting challenge.

IIRC a very good U.S. boater swam out of Charlie's hole shortly before
Scott died there... He obviously didn't see an alternative, if he wasn't
forced out of his boat by the water. Staying in your boat isn't always
an option!

I've yet to come across a situation where having a snorkel would make a
difference on someone being in trouble on whitewater. That definitely
makes me skeptical about always carrying one around for such a very rare
eventuality. I think that the Dragorossi approach might work better, but
even there one can question the effectiveness of such a device in
violently moving whitewater.

--
Wilko van den Bergh wilkoa t)dse(d o tnl
Eindhoven The Netherlands Europe
---Look at the possibilities, don't worry about the limitations.---
http://kayaker.nl/