Missouri 340: CP7 at Hermann

CP7: An old aerial at a time of high water.
Today the water level was not this high.

SandyBottom reported that she and SOS reached CP7 at Hermann, MO, at about 2:45 pm and were paddling away from there toward CP8 at Washington, MO.

She was advised by 'experts' at CP7 that "if you really crank it, you can cross the finish line by midnight". However, she said she did not have a great amount of "crank" left in her.

CP7 is only about 67 miles from the Finish Line !
CP7 to CP8: 28.2 miles, ETA between 7:30 pm and 8:00 pm Thursday.
CP8 to Finish: 39.4 miles, ETA between midnight and 2:00 am Friday.

Wayne Kocher and Ann Grove
More second-hand info about the boat that had a collision with a barge last night. She said the boat was the fast tandem outrigger sit-on-top canoe(OC2) that has been in first place in the mixed-tandem division, 8th place overall. That would be Ann Grove and Wayne Kocher. The barge vessel was in motion with lights on the tug that was pushing two barges side-by-side from behind, but there were no lights on the barges. Poor visibility in the darkness, and perhaps a bit of fog/haze was major factor. The $8000 (?) OC2 was demolished. For some reason crew of the tug were up front on the "bows" of the barges, and they saw the collision and rescued Ann and Wayne.

The Kansas City Star has posted a report online in their local news section: "Couple Unhurt In Kayak-Barge Collision-- Authorities said a couple racing in the Missouri 340 was not injured after their kayak collided with two barges being pushed side-by-side by a tugboat in the Missouri River. The Missouri State Water Patrol said the 24-foot kayak and the barge rounded a bend in Gasconade County at about 2 a.m. Thursday. They couldn't get out of the barge's way in time and the tug was unable to stop and ran over the kayak, tossing the two occupants into the water. The man and woman were able to crawl out from under the barge and were not injured. Race officials said Wayne Kocher, 70, and Ann Grove, 66, of Benicia, Calif., were running eighth. " [and first place in mixed tandems.]

Umm .... how do you "crawl out from under the barge" ...? Any way you can, I guess. So glad they survived. It sounds like it was a terribly close call.