We all met at the take out in scenic Point Pleasant, PA. I was with two other Yale yakkers, Josh and Brian, when Dave drove up. He didn't wimp out yet! Some enterprising dude was selling clothing in the parking lot; Dave and I both grabbed some extra warmth. Next question: hard boat or soft? The run is easy in the inflatable - it would have been hard to become a hero in it. A Real Man would paddle a hard boat. Dave waffles. Dave ponders. Dave decides: Real Man!
We crammed Dave into Eric's boat and Marti's wet suit. Both are a little tight but Dave can handle adversity. There are thousands of yakkers around - all ready to help if Dave gets in trouble. To the river!
Dave hadn't been in a kayak in years. Would he remember how to do it? The first mile of the river has no big rapids except Fish or Swim which he snuck around on the left. (Follow Dave's progress at http://home.epix.net/~ab257/tohickon.html if you dare ...). Dave's yakking abilities seemed to be returning. He didn't want to surf but caught eddies with no problem.
The next named rapid: the Chute. It was really easy. Just watch out for the rock on the right and stay near the middle. I led; Dave followed. I looked back: Dave was upside down. Dave was out of his boat! What happened? We had missed all the nasty stuff. Dave had no clue what hit him either. Anyway, I took Dave's paddle and another boater helped him to shore. It was cold (probably around 50). Dave was starting to wonder if he's a wimp. But there was no way out except down the river so Dave hopped back in and we were off.
The next named rapid was "No Name". Dave followed my line and nearly tipped after running the drop but made it OK. Whew. Now we were ready for the heart of the run: a set of 4 closely spaced class III rapids. We pulled out at the top of the first one, "First Ledge". We were not sure about the best line so Josh offered to go first. Josh tipped over in the first drop and then rolled up. And tipped over. And rolled up. And tipped over. And swam! Crap. Dave didn't see any of this (just as well ...) but hearing me cheer at every roll and moan and every flip didn't help much. There were a lot of other boaters to help Josh so we hopped out, took a hard look, and then picked a line on the right. On down - no problem for Dave.
Next came the second part of the drop. Brian and Josh had already gone down (Josh swam through it ...) so it was just Dave and I. I asked Dave to wait while I ran the top part of the drop. My line (left side) contained a Dave-eating hole to punch so I found Josh at the bottom and asked him to walk up to Dave and have him run the right side instead. While I franticly signaled to Dave to stay put, Josh ran up and gave Dave instructions. As Dave neared the drop I pointed desperately to the right shore trying to get him further over but he did fine anyway - he hit a few more holes than I had intended but maybe he just wanted to be macho.
Next was the "Second Ledge". This one was easier - there's a chute on the far right that's pretty simple. Dave and I took the cowards way while the other guys found the hard core lines. Maybe Dave was going to come back alive after all!
The next rapid is "Race Course". It has some big waves that can't be avoided. I went first and watched from the bottom. Dave crashed through the waves like a champ (no sneak on this one!) and we were nearly there.
The last nasty rapid is "Hat's Rock". I wanted pictures so I got out the camera and watched Brian lead Dave down on the right side. It was pretty squirrley - Dave got knocked around backwards a bit - but he persevered and emerged upright at the bottom.
The last rapid - Pyramid Rock - has an easy sneak on the left so Dave was pretty much out of the woods. On to the take out for a final victory picture.
And the final verdict: Dave Cragman: HERO!