I've still been going out to paddle on the lake but boy did the water temperature drop fast. I finally got out the neoprene boots on Wednesday. Last night I decided I should probably be wearing the neoprene pants too or stay within the harbour/river. I hear the river is really shallow though. One of the rowers said they don't even go above the thousand because it's too shallow beyond that. But I think the paddlers are still going up to the QEW.

No matter where you paddle though, it's difficult to stay motivated in this weather. There are constant distractions "my hands are cold, wow that last wave was really cold, now my pants are wet and cold, what do those seagulls want? Do I look like I have food?" (several times this year a single seagull has flown alongside me for long stretches. I know they equate humans with food but they've always ignored me in the past - becauuuuse, that's right, I'm paddling, not eating.)

After about an hour I headed into the river. As I passed under the Lakeshore, I could see some unprecedented activity at the rowers dock. Some of them are heading down to Boston this weekend for the Head of the Charles (Marisha will be racing in an 8 for Toronto Sculling Club) so I thought maybe that would account for the numbers of people and vehicles but as I cleared the bushes, I could see that all of the cars were Peel Regional Police. Three cars in total... and a boat... 8 officers. I was briefly concerned that someone had called in about me being out on the lake (people can be weird sometimes) but they were all looking up the river.

When I got into the dock, the kids filled me in. Someone driving by on the QEW had made a 911 call saying they'd seen a paddler fall in by the bridge. The coaches were able to elaborate further. Apparently the driver had waited until they got home before making the call and told the dispatcher they'd seen someone fall in and become separated from their boat. Forget that it's so shallow up there that you can stand up in the middle and there's no current, none of our paddlers had gone in, nor any of the rowers and no one had a seen any randoms in recreational boats. There was a fisherman up there who confirmed for the police that there'd been no such incident in the 2 hours he'd been there. Whatever this person saw is a mystery, maybe a deer or coyote crossing the river? Either way, I'm impressed by the response from the police. They were still there when I left the club, so maybe there actually was some reason for them to be there.

Hey, Jessie's getting married this weekend - have an amazing day, Jessie!