May 26 2001 22 Saturday

2001 Race - May 26, 2001, Saturday
The Great Mississippi River Race for Rett Syndrome, May 2001
We are Going the Extra Mile..... The Extra 2,348 Miles to Find a Cure!

Teams called in to Safety Officer between 5 and 7 AM

Team Name	Time Called	River Mile	Nearest City/State	Estimated Position
Alaska MSC	6:50 AM	Mile 40 above confluence of Ohio River	Commerce	3rd
Amazons	Withdraws 5/12/01		Stops near St. Cloud, MN	5th
Double Helix	7 AM	Mile 440	Vicksburg	2nd
Kruger	10:30 AM	Mile 376	Natchez, Louisiana	1st
Rebels	Withdraws 5/13/01		Stops near Monticello, MN	4th

Updates/Comments 5-7 AM calls from Mary Potter, Webmaster and Event Organizer:
Team Alaska - Kerm called to say everyone was wet, the gear and sleeping bags were wet and all were grumpy, except for Kerm of course, who says he enjoys it all :-) Kerm says they are at Commerce at Mile 40 at 6:50 AM.
Double Helix - Mile 440, Vicksburg at 7 ish PM. Support Crew is at 440, paddlers are north of them with the zodiac support following. Everyone is ok, Andrew says they slept in the car at the boat ramp.....something about a fishing tournament and bass boats and some one on a loud speaker blaring various messages to the tournament boats. I suspect the road crew did not get too much sleep after 3 or so.....
Team Kruger - Stan called from Natchez, Louisiana, mile 364 around 7 ish and expecting the paddlers any minute. He last saw them at mile 396 at 1:30 AM. Everyone is fine, and Stan says the current has slowed way way down. Stan later called at 10:30 saying the paddlers had arrived at 364.
END OF SAFETY REPORT MAY 26, 2001

Teams called in to Safety Officer between 5 and 7 PM

Team Name	Time Called	River Mile	Nearest City/State	Estimated Position
Alaska MSC	time called	river mile	neartown	position
Amazons	Withdraws 5/12/01		Stops near St. Cloud, MN	5th
Double Helix	time called	river mile	neartown	position
Kruger	time called	river mile	neartown	position
Rebels	Withdraws 5/13/01		Stops near Monticello, MN	4th

Updates/Comments, 5 to 7 PM Calls by Mary Potter, webmaster, Event Organizer
Team Alaska -
Kerm called in at 6:30 PM CST from Hickman, mile 30 or so. He says New Madrid is their next stop for tomorrow night. Tony has counted over 110 species of birds now. I asked Kerm if this was part of a funded study and he said no, but it was a study Tony was doing on his own and would write up after the race was over. Kerm as usual laughed much throughout the conversation and reported all were fine!
Team Double Helix -
Clark called from Mile 405 at 5:10 PM CST. Andrew Gribble called in just around the same time from a landing near Waterproof, LA. He said the weather is nice but thunderstorms may be approaching. He expects the team to camp tonight. Although it's good to be in Louisiana he said he will miss the kindness and hospitality the team received throughout MIssissippi!
Team Kruger -
Stan called at 6 PM Mile 314. Stan says it "looks like rain", very hot and sultry, no wind....they are waiting for the paddlers.
END OF SAFETY REPORT MAY 26, 2001

Webmaster/Mary Potter says - I don't have logs from every team, but I will share what I have:

Team Kruger Log - By Bob Bradford, Enhanced by Stan Hanson May 26, 2001 Saturday
At river mile 415, in the wee hours of the morning May 26, we hit a lot of barge traffic. They were all coming up river. Buckridge Landing light was not on, or at least I never found it. I could not find another light all the way around Togo Island Dikes. Finally I did find Brooks light at mile 409.5. Still later that morning, well before sunrise, I hit fog again. At the time, I was on the right bank. Once you hit fog, you are better off staying within sight of shore. I had learned this the hard way, early on in the race. At Coffee Point Dikes, river mile 403, I got inside too far. Yes, I got behind another sand bar and had to back out.

On May 26 at 9:25 a.m., we came to Natchez. We had planned on meeting them on the left before the bridge, but the support crew couldn't get in there. They met us under the U.S. 84 bridge on river right. We were very late getting there and our support crew was upset. They had called on the marine band to see if any tug captains had seen us. They told us that finally one captain had reported seeing one paddler in a white canoe. Upon hearing this, Stan had immediately figured out that one of us was laying down sleeping. We were all so relieved and there might have been a tear or two amongst us.

May 26, at about 6:00 p.m., we arrived at Knox Landing, mile 314. It was just past the two river control structures that allow water to cut off Concordia Parish. David and Mike had paddled up to meet us a couple of miles above the landing. We went up to the trailer to get a bite to eat. By the time we had finished, you could see a storm coming. We decided to take a two-hour nap, then head out after dark. In a couple of hours, the storm had passed.

We went down to the landing to get the canoe. As we went down, we could see a large river boat going up river.

As we watched the waves come in, we saw our canoe sliding out into the water. The support team got to it just in time. Even though it had been high and dry a few minutes before, we almost lost our canoe because of a wave. I'm not sure, but I think that's when Mick took control of securing our canoe each time. He put a 100-foot rope on it, no matter where we were.

After all, you can never trust a couple of canoe racers to tie their own canoe .....

Later that night on May 26, our support crew went through the next town down river, and saw storm damage. They saw downed trees and wires, and lots of emergency vehicles. They were told that a tornado had passed through the area. It was a good idea for us to take that nap.
End of Team Kruger Log May 26, 2001