{"id":23024,"date":"2023-01-04T14:06:25","date_gmt":"2023-01-04T19:06:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=23024"},"modified":"2023-01-04T14:37:02","modified_gmt":"2023-01-04T19:37:02","slug":"episode-710-cbc-white-water-mystery-near-disaster-we-all-have-a-shelf-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=23024","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 710 CBC WHITE WATER MYSTERY…NEAR DISASTER (we all have a shelf life)"},"content":{"rendered":"
EPISODE  710    WHITE WATER MYSTERY\u2026NEAR DISASTER (we all have a shelf life)<\/p>\n

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alan skeoch<\/div>\n
Jan . 3, 2023<\/div>\n

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\u201cMy head was bouncing like a tennis ball\u2026hitting  the rocky bottom of the “\u2014\u2014”  River<\/div>\n
as our canoe had flipped over in the white water rapids.  I was trapped  with legs under the thwarts<\/div>\n
\u2026my body upside down\u2026right wrist broken and pinned together,<\/div>\n
left had clutching my camera…twisted to escape, failed\u2026 hope was gone then Mike  <\/div>\n
gripped my collar and dragged me back to the surface.”<\/div>\n

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THE MYSTERY QUESTIONS: <\/div>\n

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Where did this happen?<\/div>\n
Why was the story never told?<\/div>\n

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WHITE WATER CANOEING \u2014 NEAR TRAGEDY<\/div>\n

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Disasters happen.  Sometimes people die.  Hate to think about it but our adventure<\/div>\n
white water rafting could have been a lot worse.  I could have drowned were it not for<\/div>\n
 Mike reaching under the canoe. .. catching  me by the shirt collar as my head bumped<\/div>\n
to stoney bottom of the \u201c \u2014” River.  I was trapped by the thwarts and only had one good \u2026 right wrist<\/div>\n
broken and pinned together,,,left hand holding my camera.<\/div>\n

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Why no drop the camera, you ask?  Had I done so you might not believe the story.  Evidence.<\/div>\n
Not fiction.<\/div>\n

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HOW IT ALL BEGAN<\/div>\n

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\u201cALAN, just planned a good story for you to do on CBC Radio\u2026outdoor story\u2026white water canoeing story.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cSorry, my right wrist is broken, wired together\u2026.fell off a cliff in France.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWe can still do the story.  You are left handed and can hold the microphone while we do the paddling.<\/div>\n
White water adventure for our listeners.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cSuppose I cou;d wedge under the thwarts.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cGreat\u2026meet you at the headwaters where the dam will be opened\u2026only happens once a year\u2026springtime.\u201d<\/div>\n

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Marjorie drove me to the launching site and would pick me up later she believed.  There were other veteran<\/div>\n
canoeists at the launch.   One man held the canoe while the adventurers loaded.  Must be safe for one<\/div>\n
family had a little boy wedged under the thwarts of a canoe.  The water was foaming.  Canoeists were anxious.<\/div>\n

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I assumed we could handle the danger.  Flat paddling to keep canoe from turning broadside.  Our lead paddler had<\/div>\n
the CBC recording equipment with a wire leading back to me. Mike was in the stern.   No time for adjustments.<\/div>\n
Once loaded we were cast off and began the race down river.  Fast .. really fast.  <\/div>\n

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We had hardly begun when we met the first accident.  An aluminum canoe had hit a deadfall broadside.  The canoe<\/div>\n
was bent like a safety pin.  No sign of the paddlers.<\/div>\n

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About then we lost control.  Could not keep the canoe straight\u2026could nor master the white water.  We began to<\/div>\n
pirouette \u2026 to whirl down the river like a helicopter trying to take flight.  Once the circling began we could not<\/div>\n
stop it.  I gripped the microphone and hollered a few words for the CBC audience.  Or so I thought. <\/div>\n

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 \u201cThe white water has got us.  Steer for shore!\u201d<\/div>\n
No answer.  Mike was trying.  We whirled by another canoe\u2026submerged at the shoreline.   Canoeists alive<\/div>\n
but canoe was lost.  Our canoe picked up speed\u2026still whirling\u2026.no control.  This was not an adventure.  This<\/div>\n
was an accident about to happen.\u201d<\/div>\n

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Then it happened…Turned broadside \u2026 tipped over upside down.  Water was about six feet deep with boulders here and there.<\/div>\n
I knew that because my head hit a couple of them.  I could not get out.  Both hands useless.  Legs near useless<\/div>\n
under the thwarts.  Baggage and sound equipment in a tangle sweeping past.<\/div>\n

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I do not remember panic.  I do remember the unusual sensation of my head dragon along the river bottom.<\/div>\n
How long?  Not long,,, seemed long.  Seconds only really.   Mike\u2019s hand had me by the collar dragging<\/div>\n
me from beneath the thwart to the surface and then to a small beach where some Canada geese were<\/div>\n
gabbling.  Our canoe was filled with water now.. bobbing in shallow patch.<\/div>\n

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Then Mike dove back in the deep water.<\/div>\n

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How did I get the pictures. I saved my camera , must have been waterproof.<\/div>\n

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 \u201cWhat the hell are you doing Mike?\u2019<\/div>\n
\u201cGot to get the sound equipment.  CBC stuff.\u201d<\/div>\n

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He failed.  Contents were gone\u2026coats floaed away\u2026CBC sound equipment must be bashed into scrap<\/div>\n
metal by the same boulders that bashed my head.<\/div>\n

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HOW THE ADVENTURE ENDED<\/div>\n

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WE still had our canoe and, believe it or not, both paddles.  I do not remember how we got most of the<\/div>\n
water out of the canoe.  I do remember the verdant wilderness where the accident happened.  Forest reaching<\/div>\n
down to the shore.  Occasional shallow beaches.   I remember shivering.  It was early spring.   Trees bursting<\/div>\n
into life\u2026Maybe dandelions here and there.  Canada geese gabbling something unintelligible like \u201cthose fools\u201d!<\/div>\n
My right hand seemed ok , only swollen a bit more than usual\u2026.wire pins in place.<\/div>\n

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The river levelled out and there was no more white water.  We paddled leisurely.  Other cases passed us<\/div>\n
confident that they had triumphed over nature.  We were less confident.  I shivered.  My arm sling was gone.<\/div>\n
My broken wrist was swelling.   We beached the canoe and it was taken away somewhere.   <\/div>\n

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Mike and his partner were silent.  I am not sure whether my near injury or my near drowning was top of <\/div>\n
their minds.  I think not.   The loss of the CBC gear was certainly uppermost.  I shivered\u2026soaked<\/div>\n
to the skin.   Hopped on the bus that took me ask to the headwaters where Marjorie picked me up.<\/div>\n

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THE ANSWEERS TO THE TWO BIG QUESTIONS<\/div>\n

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1)  WHAT whiee water river was this?   The Don River.  You laugh!  The Don River is so placid.  Never<\/div>\n
has white water.  And you are correct.  Except for one day each year when the dam at the<\/div>\n
headwaters is opened.  One day off white water.  We were there.<\/div>\n

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2)  Why was I never allowed to do the CBC story?   That is a big mystery to me.  Having survived<\/div>\n
I dearly wanted to do the story.  But the CBC management must have killed the story.  Did the loss <\/div>\n
of the CBC gear play a role?  Or was it fear of a lawsuit had I not survived?  Mike never said.\u2019<\/div>\n
One thing is certain.  My career as a CBC radio journalist ended that day.<\/div>\n

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Well, not quite ended.  I was asked to do a story on the Sam McBride, a Tronto Island <\/div>\n
ferry that was facing the end of its days.  That was my last story.   <\/div>\n

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Today, I think the story is worth telling.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
-white water canoeist<\/div>\n
-former CBC radio journalist<\/div>\n
-adventurer<\/div>\n
-January 4, 2023<\/div>\n

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Post Script:  HOW MY CBC CAREER ENDED<\/div>\n
\u201cWe do not need you anymore:\u201d said my producer .<\/div>\n
End of career.  Was I surprised?   Not really.  Another radio<\/div>\n
commentator told me early in my radio career: , <\/div>\n

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\u201cAl, remember , we all have a shelf life.\u201d<\/div>\n

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So ended my SHELF LIFE with the CBC.<\/div>\n

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Somewhere at the bottom of the Don River you might find that sound equipment.  Then<\/div>\n
again maybe it was washed out into Toronto Harbour and Lake Ontario by the annual<\/div>\n
white water canoe race.  No one sent me a bill.<\/div>\n

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EPISODE  710    WHITE WATER MYSTERY\u2026NEAR DISASTER (we all have a shelf life) alan skeoch Jan . 3, 2023 \u201cMy head was bouncing like a tennis ball\u2026hitting  the rocky bottom of the “\u2014\u2014”  River as our canoe had flipped over in the white water rapids.  I was trapped  with legs under the thwarts \u2026my body […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23024\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}