Martha the Trip Coordinator
| River: | Nolichucky |
| Skill: | Intermediate+ |
| Trip Date: | 10/19/2013 |
Two Trip Weekend
Saturday October 19, 2013 – French Broad Section 9
Martha was a bit nervous about her first time as a “trip coordinator”. However she had been on French Broad – Section 9 many times before and the crew was equally experienced. The level was a moderate 1450 cfs and the weather was also sunny and moderate. As it turned out her biggest task was organizing the shuttle. We had a crew of about a dozen, with a mix of kayaks and open canoes. It was a pretty mellow day.
Sunday October 20, 2013 – Nolichucky
A far more memorable trip, especially for Martha. It was not only her first time as trip coordinator on the Nolichucky; it was her first trip on the Noli. The level was fairly low (around 700 cfs) but the weather was fair and mostly sunny. It again was a veteran crew, with two Lees (myself and Belknap), Vince, Scott, Ryland and Genny. The paddling was relatively uneventful.
In my paddling career, I have on a few occasions been “trip coordinator” on my second time down a river. By my reasoning, I was thus in a tie with many other boaters in “leading” a trip on only my second run. I don't count exploratory runs where none of us had been down a river – these were generally not announced to a club and the participants were more or less equals (some more equal than others). Martha posted the trip online and in her first trip was the trip coordinator. At first this seems like an unassailable record. But perhaps not so ….
Sometime in the future, I envision someone being trip coordinator without actually going on the creek / river. As the river participants are headed toward the river in a caravan, they receive a series of text messages – Take exit 43, turn rt, go 100 yd turn left @ stop, etc, etc. As they get on the river, they receive (on their waterproof mobile phones or google glass) a series of video clips showing the lines through each rapid. If you swim, you get a video on rolling technique.
Martha did OK; she got us all to the takeout. You could tell that she was a rookie trip coordinator as she failed to assign anyone to have a cooler full of beverages at the takeout.
– Lee Thonus