by CONNIE TABBERT
Editor
WHITEWATER REGION (Beach-burg) — A sleeping man was awakened by his father with the words, “Grab your gear, Timber is in the river.”
Joel Kowalski got ready in record time, drove two kilometres to his brother’s home and rescued Timber.
But, in between that time, what happened? Was it a mistake to go onto the Ottawa River in winter? Did the dog make it?
Timber is an almost-two-year-old 100-pound golden retriever belonging to Joseph Leblanc, wife Jen and children.
“He’s a huge, loveable golden retriever,” Joel said.
On Tuesday, December 19, 2017, around 7:30 a.m. Joel was asleep in a warm bed at his parent’s home on Grants Settlement Road near Beachburg.
“At 7:30 a.m., my dad got a phone call from my sister-in-law Jen, who was frantic and said, Timber is in the river. Can you ask Joel to come and help?”
Joe didn’t hesitate in waking his son, shouting, “Grab your kayak gear, Timber’s in the river.”
Sprinting downstairs, Joel grabbed his dry suit, life jacket, kayak paddle and drove to his brother’s home.
Joel explained that his brother lives on a small side channel of the Ottawa River off Purple Finch Trail. It’s about 50 feet wide and has a steady current, which means it doesn’t really ice over, he explained.
“The narrowness makes it more dangerous,” he said. “I could see Timber about 100 metres downstream, which is not too far above where the ice closes over. She (Jen) was calling Timber so he would swim against the current and not be swept downstream under the ice.”
Using his kayak as a brace, and knowing if he broke through the ice, he would be safe because he would be on top of the kayak, floating, not sinking. He also had a dry suit and life jacket on, which offered more protection.
In the first attempt as he moved towards the edge of the ice, Joel broke through, but managed to stay on top of his kayak and paddled back to the edge, where his father, who had now arrived, tossed him a rope.
“I knew we were racing against time with Timber,” Joel said.
Using the paddle, he chopped away at the ice to create an inlet of water to allow Timber to swim towards him.
When he neared Timber, Joel knew he would not be strong enough to pull the now very heavy dog. Instead, he used his paddle and put it behind the dog’s bum to help guide him where he should be going.
“Timber was struggling to stay above the water,” Joel recalled.
When Timber was close enough, Joel grabbed him by the collar and pulled him onto the ice.
“He was, at this point, paralyzed from the cold, he couldn’t even move,” he said.
He was able to pull Timber into the kayak, attached the rope to the kayak and dragged him through the snow back to the truck.
Timber was taken back to Joe and Sue’s house because they had a wood stove where Timber could lay near it, Joel said.
“We warmed Timber up by the fire until he was happy and warm again,” he said.
Looking back, Joel said, “I knew we were running out of time. By the time I got there, Timber had already been treading water for about 45 minutes. He was barely keeping his head above water. He was cold and exhausted.”
Knowing the river as well as he does, having grown up on it and a world-class paddler, Joel said he wasn’t concerned for his safety at all.
“I’ve been paddling on the river throughout the winter for over a decade,” he said. “I’m pretty comfortable with being around ice in the river environment, especially where there’s a current.
“I definitely know exactly where to avoid and I’m pretty comfortable using my kayak as a tool.”
Joel stressed, “At no point did I feel I was risking my life. I felt like I was well within my experience level doing what I did, but only because I have very specific experience dealing with moving water in ice conditions.”
However, Joel does stress that people should not go into ice-cold water, or onto thin ice, to rescue an animal unless they are comfortable doing so.
Joel said Timber normally does not go close to the water. On this particular morning, Jen was taking her daughters to the bus and didn’t see Timber, thinking he was playing somewhere.
When she returned home, she called for Timber and couldn’t find him. She went to the river and saw him in the water. Home alone, she didn’t hesitate to call her father-in-law knowing her brother-in-law could help.
Once Timber was able to move, she went to Joel’s side where he remained for quite a while.
This incident recalled another incident his father was involved in many years ago with a young woman. Retelling the story, Joe said Lynn Clark had gone under the ice while videographing kayakers on the Ottawa River. He was one of the people trying to save her life. He recalled her looking at him through the ice as they tried to break through it.
“I think of her three or four times a week,” he recalled.
She was the daughter of Alice and the late Chuck Clark of Cobden.
American Whitewater has this published on the internet: Lynn Clarke, 35, was an award-winning videographer best known for her films of adventure sports like rock climbing, bungee jumping and, particularly, kayaking. She was an expert paddler who paddled rivers all over the world.
Despite the icy Canadian winter weather Ms. Clarke was on the Ottawa River on February 7, 1999. She was getting video footage of paddlers in the icy, snow-covered landscape. She was preparing to videotape two other kayakers who were with her as they ran some small rapids. Suddenly her kayak overturned in the swift current. She bailed out, and was swept under an overhanging ice shelf. Newspapers show pictures of a broad river with a few riffles. It does not look dangerous until you realize that there are undercut ice banks along significant portions of the shore.
Her friends immediately summoned help from nearby residents, many of whom were river outfitters and guides. They responded with ice picks, axes and a chainsaw. During the rescue attempt Ms. Clarke could be seen underneath the ice, about two meters from the edge, but the swift current prevented them from reaching her. They recovered her lifeless body about 40 minutes later. She was rushed to a waiting ambulance and taken to Pembroke General Hospital but could not be revived.
