Unexpected happens on simple canoe float

A nice 10 mile float trip with my 13 year old son last evening. About half way through, we spotted lean to made with old tin etc, possible hobo camp. Had to check it out. Lashed the canoe to a log jam, seemed old,back to the canoe. Old dad just about to turn and sit, you guessed it.flipped right over in 6 foot of water. Swam out to retrieve my belt kit." THANKS to everyone here for that" Built a fire in the old camp to dry out. Lessons learned , hands shakeing to much for BSA striker, used bic instead. Wool shirt dried fast cotton is worthless when wet. Air temp. low 60's, water? darn cold. Practicing in perfect condtions is not like reality

Sounds like it ended well and you taught yourself and your son something useful. Cool.

Bracken, I seem to be highly skilled at dumping a canoe, and quite adept at stepping into a deep hole while wading and flyfishing. Having had my "state of the art" PSK wander away from me in the water, I now use this (Whanganui Cases - Belt CASE):
http://www.aquapac.net/storeframesets/main/us/UntitledFrameset-11.htm

I shorten the lanyard (which I made sure won't lynch me) and wear it around my neck and under my shirt. It holds everything in Doug's PSK and more.

Glad you made it!!

Glad to hear you got out of it ok. Was the weather dry and did you have/find dry tinder available?

Regards, Vince

Your link didn't work for me. This one might be better.

http://www.aquapac.net/product/whang/beltcase.htm

I was on an overnight SAR in Oregon rescuing a family from a sinking pleasureboat. Got everybody back to the Marina, shook hands ,accepted hugs from the kids, turned to leave in my most humbly heroic Surfman posturing and walked off the dock into the water. Stuff happens. Congratulations <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

This is a great lesson in fire starting when you are really cold and need a fire bad!

Why did you say that your hands were shaking too much to use the BSA Hot Spark? Did you have treated cotton tinder to use with the Hot Spark? I have been cold and shaking badly. One trick is to wrap the cotton ball around the end of a small stick and hit that with the spark. Then use the stick as a big match to start the fire lay. What kind of fire lay did you use?

Thanks!

We fish a few dead people a year out of the Delaware river when they are on a "short float" just like you. Glad to hear you were well equipped.

Well you have answered the question I was about to ask. Yes I had treated cotton, but each time i tried to spark it I destroyed my tinder pile. Thanks for the tip.

Braken,

Please tell us what kind of fire lay you were using. Was it a tepee style? I'm trying to imagine what you could stack while your hands are shaking badly. This could be very useful for the rest of us.

It would be good to know what not to waste time on. I'm thinking the lay where you have an arm size log and place your tinder and kindling against it in the form of an inverted V might be best.

Thanks!

I've read Chris's posts for quite some time. I'm certain he managed to convince everyone watching that he fully intended to check out the water temperature.. or something like that.. and that this wasn't an accident!

Just idle curiousity: were you both wearing flotation vests?

Sue

As far as using the sparker, were you moving the striker and scraping into your tinder? The less disturbing way is to hold the striker steady and draw the fire steel towards you.

Sorry for the slow reply, lots to do , no time.

Yes, I was moving the striker into the tinder. Thanks for the tip, I"ll try it ASAP.

Firelay Yes, I was using the tepee style. My problem was trying to use a small birds nest style tinder pile. Dried grass, shavings from dead limb with vaseline coated cotton ball, kept destroying the tinder pile from shaking.

No, vests under our seats. Slow moving river max. about 5 ft deep, half the time canoe was scrapping bottom.
I know the depth being shallow is NO excuse. vests from now on.

The weather was dry but windy. Plenty of dry tinder and firewood close at hand

Thanks for everyones replys and tips, I've learned so much here.

Thank you for your answers.

I am going to learn from your spill. If I am chilled and shaking and need to start a fire I am going to use the log and inverted V fire lay and wrap my cotton ball around a stick. I’ll gather my firewood, build the fire lay, wrap and light my cotton-ball fire-stick, and light the fire. Then I’ll add kindling until the fire is big enough for fuel.

Does anyone have a better idea?

I’d rather figure out what I need to do before it happens than try to figure it out when I am not thinking clearly.

Check this version of a hypothermia survival kit.

http://www.watertribe.com/Magazine/ChallengeHowTo/Contents.aspx?ucPtr=WhenGodsPlay.ascx

Great link!

Thanks!