Had planned to fish today for Walleye at Dam 4 on upper Potomac river. Went out with buddy and his brand new rod and reel. Took his 16 foot canoe, and made it across the first 20 feet of slackwater just fine! Then hit the 40 foot wide tailrace current. I have been across this sucker many times in my 14 foot Jon boat. But when that current hit the first 4 feet of that canoe, it shot it sideways so quickly that it effectivly just shot it out from under us, since we did not accelerate near as fast. I went in head first and was spun under by the fast water, and had no sense of which way was up. I had debated wheather to put on my regular vest or the SOSpenders (manual Model). I was wearing a pair of glacier gloves that made feeling the cord difficult, but I ran my hand down the vest and the handle was right there in my hand. I was still somewhere near upside down at this time, since I was looking at rocks moving away from me, and I pulled the handle as a continuing motion of trying to find it. That sucker was fast ,loud, and wierd feeling as it kind of hugged me. The vest turned me upright and when I felt the rocks hitting my shins I tried to stand up and get some air. The rocks under my feet seemed to be all slime since I had regular boots on, not felt like I always normally wear. When I tried to stand I came up under the upside down canoe and hit my head on the seat. My eyes were clear of the water, but the seat kept my mouth under the water. I then procedded to take in a lungfull of water which for the first time caused me to start to panic, since a lungfull of water is far worse than a lung full of depleated air. I had a hard time getting back under water due to the bouyancy of the vest, but managed to get out from under it . I was sputtering trying to get the water out and some air in, all the time failing to get a firm foot hold on the bottom. Half swam the canoe into the shallows and got up and checked my buddy who was near shore and checking on me prior to hustling after his wallet and cellphone in his drybag. All of my gear some how stayed with the boat, and only thing missing was a third of my beloved St. Croix rod. My buddys new rod was gone though, and after getting somewhat composed we waded back out to find it. This is when I suddenly felt the cold, adrenalin was gone. Went back to his house and got warm and for him dry, although I was wearing mutiple layers of synthetic clothing (fleece) and once I got out of the water I felt absolutly warm compared to the heat loss while in it. My buddy put on his heavy waders and we went back down and quickly retrieved an absolutly unblemished brand new rod and reel from the water. Sorry to go on so long, but it was a hell of a day, and while the SOSpenders saved my Arse today, I think I will put on the traditional vest next time. I do not Know if I got lucky finding the handle so fast, but I sure had enough on my mind otherwise. Next time this will be a feeshing report! [angel][angel]