NEWS PHOTO MO CRANKER
Carla Prentice waits for other paddlers to get in the water Saturday, Sept. 28, 2019 before the Medicine Hat Paddling Club's annual Hat Hat Regatta.
mcranker@medicinehatnews.com@MHNmocranker
Despite temperatures hovering around freezing Saturday, a small group of Hat paddlers met up for the annual Hat Hat Regatta to close out the paddling season.
Club president Rick Redmond says he was happy to see the group of five dedicated paddlers out to brave the cold and make their way from Echo Dale, down the South Saskatchewan River to land in Strathcona Island Park.
“The weather is unfortunate, for sure,” he said. “What’s great is we’re seeing the dedication of our club – it’s going to be a nice trip down the river.
“We’re all wearing extra layers and ready to go.”
The event is the last organized paddle of the year locally and nationally, says Redmond, and the club is happy with the year it had.
“We’ve stayed busy this year,” he said. “We’ve had lots of good organized events, we’ve had weekly events and a really fun one we did was the moonlight paddle.
“We’ve gone out to watch the full moon and we got a group of around 20 out for that.”
The Hat Hat Regatta encourages participants to wear fun hats for the trip, but Saturday people kept warmth in mind as much as fashion.
“We’ve all got hats, but today is all about keeping warm,” he said. “We’re just happy we were able to determine the ride as safe so we could keep this tradition going.”
The club is getting ready for its annual film festival that it holds in March and tickets will go on sale before Christmas.
“It’s going to be sold out again this year,” said Redmond. “People need to get their tickets fast.”
