Great run.
We started and ended with 16. Or was it 15? Overall number of folks on the river was low; the takeout lot was less than half full. Met at 11. Put on around half past 12.
We started with a hot sunny day then ran into a thunderstorm at lunch. Humidity shot up to 100% creating a fog layer 2-4' deep just in time to completely obscure Robin's Nest. We had the new folks following me or Tony and we both ran down the tongue twixt holes on the right and knuckles on the left. It was smooth enough that the ducklings asked "was that Robin's Nest?" That is a sign of a good line. Without a view of the holes on the right or a sense of the swim if there is a problem, Robin's Nest turns out to be simple.
The fog cleared when the sun returned and the rest of the run was peaceful. Finished around 3:30. People were grinning and happy and pumped up at the takeout.
We had two swimmers early, a kayak and open boat, both with quick rescues. Boaters need to tie their gear down well.
We had an inflatable on the trip. First one I've seen here. It was agile, and as fast as a typical potato kayak. It waterbugs over a lot and turns into a bucking bronco on big wave trains a la World's End. The key is they are stable and allow more folks to paddle whitewater. It is important to take the pump as the fully inflated boat in the warm sunny parking lot looks impotent after an hour in cold water. I would like to try one on big water on an open river but would be wary of tight rocky creeks where the chances of pinning might be greater.
Also had a green boat. Looks like my old school boats and is fast.
Lessons learned: people need to carry whistles to communicate in the river particularly in large groups that get spread out. The trip set up system worked well. A huge number of folks from different origins came together as planned. Great work by the organizers. I need glasses with windshield wipers. Wayne told me in the parking lot that he was worried about following my line when he realized I couldn't see.
There was an on river discussion about the releases and two ideas came up. First, switching an early spring release to a summer release. It would be nice to have a North Branch weekend in warm weather when everything else is dry. And arranging lower level releases on the Savage. It is a much smaller stream than the North Branch and releases between 400 and 600 cfs would make the river available to more people. Three releases per season at a high level keep the river crowded and exclusive. I have no idea of the history of this issue and no sense of whether this could be done. Does CCA have a wish fulfillment committee?
Trip was rated 10/10.