So… in this clip the Queen successfully shoots the Amazon rapids. Bogey and Hepburn fall in love. If I had a clip from the Pewaukee River rapids it would view more like the end of this movie.
***Spoiler Alert*** It would have the AQ18 mortally wounded, swamped and floating just above the surface sans the torpedoes sticking out of the bow. ***End Spoiler Alert***
And so the story of the African Queen 18 comes to an end. But what a finish!
Our first 2021 paddling event of the year was in Pewaukee Wisconsin, the 47th Annual Pewaukee River Run titled “Get Your Rapid Test”. Sponsored by the local Kiwanis Club, the 8 1/2 mile race had more than 140 entries of kayaks and canoes
The river, not unlike the aforementioned Amazon, was at times very narrow, shallow and snaked around greater Pewuakee for six miles emptying into the Fox River at suburban Waukesha. I chose the AQ18 because my longer cedar boat would have been way to hard to steer. I thought about using my 16′ thermoform sea kayak with a rudder but instead went with the AQ18. I really thought it would be ok.
For the first 5 miles or so, it was perfect. Easy to steer, nimble around sharp turns, I thought I had it under control. In fact I had passed everyone in front of me (stagger-started 7th). Then the rough water started. Nothing bad, I could avoid the rough areas and kept moving. Then came the “test”. I scraped a couple of times, felt the boat slow and then hit a 90 degree turn with no way around. The boat hung up, spun and I felt and heard the boat give. About that time the guy behind me that I knew would catch me started through the rapids and headed right towards me. I spun the boat towards him and he slipped by but the damage to my boat had been done.
I got out, walked a few feet then refloated and continued on but something was wrong. Water was trickling in. I kept going. But now I seemed to be scraping the bottom more often. And the more it scraped, the more water came in. I made it through the rapids to the deeper Fox but now I was sitting in 8″ of very cold water. I really couldn’t find a place to go ashore and I knew that even if I stopped and emptied the water, it immediately would fill back up so I kept going. Now with a mile and half to go, the boat had equalized. The cargo holds were still “holding” so I reasoned that boat would not sink.
But now every time I tried to paddle faster, the bow would start to dig in. Leaning back helped a little but by then steering the boat became impossible. Having an estimated 30 gallons of water in the cockpit made the boat go where it wanted so I had to actually brace (put the paddle into the water and drag one side) the boat almost to a stop to get back on the line.
Some of those that I had passed earlier started to pass me. I was paddling slowly just to keep straight. Finally, I crossed the finish line, pulled the boat up on shore and it was done.
These wood boats always attract attention, this one attracted condolences. So after a while I just turned the boat over so no one could see the damage.
In a twisted bit of proud irony, even after limping across the finish, I still had the fourth best kayak time of the day.
So what’s next? Clearly it will never float again. A viking water funeral is out of the question. I don’t think the DNR people at Evergreen Lake would appreciate that.
I’ve always felt these boats (this one and her un-restored sister John B) were made for the wall or ceiling-some sort of fixture. Maybe that’s a good idea after all. I’ve seen other ideas but these two came from Etsy:
Maybe, just maybe the story doesn’t end here. Perhaps I’ve got a different kind of woodworking project ahead of me. The Queen is dead, long live the Queen!.