EPISODE 710 WHITE WATER MYSTERY…NEAR DISASTER (we all have a shelf life)
alan skeoch
Jan . 3, 2023
“My head was bouncing like a tennis ball…hitting the rocky bottom of the “——” River
as our canoe had flipped over in the white water rapids. I was trapped with legs under the thwarts
…my body upside down…right wrist broken and pinned together,
left had clutching my camera…twisted to escape, failed… hope was gone then Mike
gripped my collar and dragged me back to the surface.”
THE MYSTERY QUESTIONS:
Where did this happen?
Why was the story never told?
WHITE WATER CANOEING — NEAR TRAGEDY
Disasters happen. Sometimes people die. Hate to think about it but our adventure
white water rafting could have been a lot worse. I could have drowned were it not for
Mike reaching under the canoe. .. catching me by the shirt collar as my head bumped
to stoney bottom of the “ —” River. I was trapped by the thwarts and only had one good … right wrist
broken and pinned together,,,left hand holding my camera.
Why no drop the camera, you ask? Had I done so you might not believe the story. Evidence.
Not fiction.
HOW IT ALL BEGAN
“ALAN, just planned a good story for you to do on CBC Radio…outdoor story…white water canoeing story.”
“Sorry, my right wrist is broken, wired together….fell off a cliff in France.”
“We can still do the story. You are left handed and can hold the microphone while we do the paddling.
White water adventure for our listeners.”
“Suppose I cou;d wedge under the thwarts.”
“Great…meet you at the headwaters where the dam will be opened…only happens once a year…springtime.”
Marjorie drove me to the launching site and would pick me up later she believed. There were other veteran
canoeists at the launch. One man held the canoe while the adventurers loaded. Must be safe for one
family had a little boy wedged under the thwarts of a canoe. The water was foaming. Canoeists were anxious.
I assumed we could handle the danger. Flat paddling to keep canoe from turning broadside. Our lead paddler had
the CBC recording equipment with a wire leading back to me. Mike was in the stern. No time for adjustments.
Once loaded we were cast off and began the race down river. Fast .. really fast.
We had hardly begun when we met the first accident. An aluminum canoe had hit a deadfall broadside. The canoe
was bent like a safety pin. No sign of the paddlers.
About then we lost control. Could not keep the canoe straight…could nor master the white water. We began to
pirouette … to whirl down the river like a helicopter trying to take flight. Once the circling began we could not
stop it. I gripped the microphone and hollered a few words for the CBC audience. Or so I thought.
“The white water has got us. Steer for shore!”
No answer. Mike was trying. We whirled by another canoe…submerged at the shoreline. Canoeists alive
but canoe was lost. Our canoe picked up speed…still whirling….no control. This was not an adventure. This
was an accident about to happen.”
Then it happened…Turned broadside … tipped over upside down. Water was about six feet deep with boulders here and there.
I knew that because my head hit a couple of them. I could not get out. Both hands useless. Legs near useless
under the thwarts. Baggage and sound equipment in a tangle sweeping past.
I do not remember panic. I do remember the unusual sensation of my head dragon along the river bottom.
How long? Not long,,, seemed long. Seconds only really. Mike’s hand had me by the collar dragging
me from beneath the thwart to the surface and then to a small beach where some Canada geese were
gabbling. Our canoe was filled with water now.. bobbing in shallow patch.
Then Mike dove back in the deep water.
How did I get the pictures. I saved my camera , must have been waterproof.
“What the hell are you doing Mike?’
“Got to get the sound equipment. CBC stuff.”
He failed. Contents were gone…coats floaed away…CBC sound equipment must be bashed into scrap
metal by the same boulders that bashed my head.
HOW THE ADVENTURE ENDED
WE still had our canoe and, believe it or not, both paddles. I do not remember how we got most of the
water out of the canoe. I do remember the verdant wilderness where the accident happened. Forest reaching
down to the shore. Occasional shallow beaches. I remember shivering. It was early spring. Trees bursting
into life…Maybe dandelions here and there. Canada geese gabbling something unintelligible like “those fools”!
My right hand seemed ok , only swollen a bit more than usual….wire pins in place.
The river levelled out and there was no more white water. We paddled leisurely. Other cases passed us
confident that they had triumphed over nature. We were less confident. I shivered. My arm sling was gone.
My broken wrist was swelling. We beached the canoe and it was taken away somewhere.
Mike and his partner were silent. I am not sure whether my near injury or my near drowning was top of
their minds. I think not. The loss of the CBC gear was certainly uppermost. I shivered…soaked
to the skin. Hopped on the bus that took me ask to the headwaters where Marjorie picked me up.
THE ANSWEERS TO THE TWO BIG QUESTIONS
1) WHAT whiee water river was this? The Don River. You laugh! The Don River is so placid. Never
has white water. And you are correct. Except for one day each year when the dam at the
headwaters is opened. One day off white water. We were there.
2) Why was I never allowed to do the CBC story? That is a big mystery to me. Having survived
I dearly wanted to do the story. But the CBC management must have killed the story. Did the loss
of the CBC gear play a role? Or was it fear of a lawsuit had I not survived? Mike never said.’
One thing is certain. My career as a CBC radio journalist ended that day.
Well, not quite ended. I was asked to do a story on the Sam McBride, a Tronto Island
ferry that was facing the end of its days. That was my last story.
Today, I think the story is worth telling.
alan skeoch
-white water canoeist
-former CBC radio journalist
-adventurer
-January 4, 2023
Post Script: HOW MY CBC CAREER ENDED
“We do not need you anymore:” said my producer .
End of career. Was I surprised? Not really. Another radio
commentator told me early in my radio career: ,
“Al, remember , we all have a shelf life.”
So ended my SHELF LIFE with the CBC.
Somewhere at the bottom of the Don River you might find that sound equipment. Then
again maybe it was washed out into Toronto Harbour and Lake Ontario by the annual
white water canoe race. No one sent me a bill.
