Free Narrative Essays - Canoeing :: Personal Narrative Essays

Canoeing: A to Z We were practicing methods of paddling Ruth Elvedt discusses in her book, Canoeing: A to Z. We did the side stroke, which pulls the canoe sideways. We did the back stroke, which makes the canoe reverse course. We also did the classic forward stroke to go forward. We became quite proficient in the art of spinning the canoe around in circles from combining the methods Ms. Elvedt discusses in her book. The numerous people who were floating close by laughed at us and called us idiots because of our unique practice of paddling. We interviewed Rich's uncle, Earl Keys, who claims to have floated The Current over a hundred times, prior to our departure for the river. He had warned us when we questioned him about his numerous float trips down Current River to be extremely careful when we came to a fast moving bend in the river called Wallace's Point. He said, "Wallace's Point is lined with so many root wads (root wads are clumps of tree stumps, roots, branches, leaves, and whatever else might float down the river) along the banks, and it has so many sunken canoes and sunken logs along it's main channel that safe passage through it is impossible - unless you stick to the right side of the bend." As we neared the end of a long straight away in the river, I noticed the speed of the water was increasing exponentially. A look farther down the river told me what I had been dreading this whole trip now lay before us, and we were going into Wallace's Point from the wrong side of the river! "Rich! Back-right stroke! Back-right stroke! Hurry! Don't you see that we're going in the wrong way? BACK-RIGHT STROKE!" I bellowed as a rush of excitement and worry hit me. "Hey, take it easy man. We can do this. We'll just paddle like crazy to the other side. Got it?" was Rich's unusually calm reply to my maniacal outburst. So we both put our backs into it and made it to the other side of the river; however, before we knew it we were moving faster than most people can run, and steering the canoe was becoming very