Saturday morning, I passed 2 canoists on the Mississippi River.

They were 2 young men in 2 green hulled canoes, with their camping gear lashed down from the amidships to bow position, and they were using kayak paddles. They were paddling down the middle of the channel and were dodging to the side of the channel everytime a tow would appear. They were difficult to spot, at first glance during the early (after sunrise) morning hours. I noticed that neither one was wearing a life jacket.

Today I heard a USCG Pon Pon Broadcast (emergency) stating that a green hulled canoe, with camping equipment lashed to it was spotted adrift with no person onboard (POB).

Why is it that I suspect that these two fellows might have gone under the rakes of a large tow that they were too slow to dodge.
Old Man River is less forgiving than Mother Ocean, believe it or not!!

A little known fact for recreational boaters, River buoys are normally set in either 12 (rising) or 14 (falling) feet of water, depending on whether the river is rising or falling. Canoists and other boaters can safely transit outside the buoy line where loaded tows cannot reach them and empty tows may not be able to reach them. In canals, most have a project depth of 9 feet so the recreational boaters are still able to stay outside of the channel and have plenty of water, as well.