Celia

Hi all. First time posting here I think. But re this story... there is something that a much better paddler pointed out and I have been glad I listened. One of the things that I usually have accessible in my day hatch is a cag that I can pull on over my head if need be in the boat. It's not fancy - a Kokatat Tropos top. But when I got it I was advised to get an extra large even though that is way too big for me. At the time I was thinking mostly about the ability to get it over my own head, and I thought it was pretty cool that I could kneel down and it would completely cover me. However, that jacket has come out of the hatch more often for other paddlers than myself, and for the most part they've been guys who could never be gotten into one that was my size. I thought of it in the context of this story - something like that, if available, could have gone over the guy being rescued to block wind while he was being towed. But for an average size woman, that usually will mean that the cag has to be oversized for her.

I just spoke with them - they are expecting to offer a 10% discount again. I think that the prices may have gone up $10 a night since last fall, or they added a shoulder season on rates, but either way it's a good deal compared to housing around here near the water. The rear cabins are well off the road and particularly quiet, though watch out for the ones that seem to be just a bed and a foot of room around it. They have one or two like that - very tough to find a way to lay out all your wet gear.

Update - the guy was home the next day hopefully feeling chastised but OK. The lake is quite little, could call it a big pond as well, sits just south of Saratoga, and is actually fairly shallow and one that tends to get and stay warm longer than the high lakes and ponds at elevation north and east of there. The water has been ridiculously unfrozen here as in the rest of the NE, so the temp may have been close to 40 degrees. But cold no matter how you slice it. I have been told that at least one of the rescuers had some serious BCU training, likely better able to help than would have been the average paddler.