The Phatwater on the Natchez Gauge today is 24.85′, down from a year ago by 8.33′, when it was 33.18′.  Overcast skies indicate more rain through the weekend with significant rainfall in southern Iowa which will make its way here in about 10 days, so we are probably looking at comparable water to last year’s level.  The level on race day last year, Oct. 11, was 23.59′.

Our record high level for the Phatwater was in 2004, when we hit 24.6′ on the Natchez Gauge.  The gauge, incidentally, is located on the Natchez bridge.  Well, it’s located on one of the bridges, not sure which one, but I will find out because some among you are engineers, and you need this information to sleep soundly. I’m not sure if sleeping soundly means you make noise while you are sleeping, as in snoring, or not.  If you do, then your partner probably isn’t getting much sleep at all, but this is a matter for sleep pathologists and other weird looking guys with flat eyebrows and high pinochle averages.

Steering our way back to water levels, our record low water was in 2007, October 13th, when Mike Herbert battled his way against 10.7′ of water and 20+mph headwinds to nail a new record time of 4:16 and change.

Mike Herbert at the PhatwaterPhinish'09

In 2006 we had 18.12′, in 2005 we had 14.76′, in 2003 we had 19.07′ and we had 23′ in 2002, during our first year race.

Gary Simon of Milwaukee, near St. Joe, Phatwater 2008

Other stats: To date we’ve had 466 paddlers in 402 craft for a total time of 2,473.4 hours. Of these totals, we’ve had 85 women and 381 men. Last year we had 129 paddlers finish, with 20 women and 109 men in a total of 109 craft. Our total time on the water in 2008 was 755.5 hours.

During our first year, we had six men and five women, and without question the ringleader for the distaff side was our dear friend, Peggy Pierrepont, who, when told she should wait for the heavy gray mist to lift off the river, rebuked me, saying, “Screw this!  I’m from New York and New Yorkers don’t wait!” She then shoved her poke boat into the flow and drifted ‘onward through the fog’.

Peggy Pierrepont-The Phatwater's Phirst Phriend

I won’t go into Peggy’s pedigree or her reasons for winding up in Natchez, but she lives here now, understands grits, and has the kind of sense of humor that could crack up a diamond.  She is also a huge supporter of the Phatwater and the Natchez Adams County Humane Society, and I want to take this moment to thank her, and our other Premier VIP Sponsors for this year: Mike Worley, Dr. Randy and Anne Tillman, Greg Iles, Jeff Rowell, and David & Betty Paradise.  I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Senator Bob Dearing and Craig Ray, with the Division of Tourism for the State of Mississippi.  They’ve kept the air in our floatbags, once more, in spite of economic pitfalls.

We’re counting down the last two weeks.  We’ve got our trophies in, our caps ordered, T-shirts laid out, and Phatwater Mugs In the Kiln.  Speaking of Kiln, I also want to mention the Lazy Magnolia Brewery, headquartered in Kiln, Mississippi, whose signature Ale, Southern Pecan, will be on hand two weeks from tomorrow.  Try it.

More later—

KB