By Andria Simmons
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
BUFORD, Ga. — A novice kayaker wearing only nylon jogging pants and bowling shoes was in over his head Sunday afternoon when he went for an afternoon paddle down the Chattahoochee River.
Sean Timmons, 25, of McDonough became separated from friends and failed to show up at a predetermined pickup point. Gwinnett County and Forsyth County authorities launched a helicopter and watercraft search when he hadn't returned by nightfall.
His mother, Sharon Jones, a Clayton County police officer, got a call about 9:30 p.m. from one of three friends who went kayaking with Timmons saying her son was missing. Jones knew from experience such scenarios rarely have a happy ending.
"Of course I panicked," Jones said.
It took about an hour and a half for Jones to drive from her home in McDonough to Up the River Outfitters at 6144 Cumming Highway in Buford, where her son's journey started. Timmons' father and grandfather met her there.
Jones said she was confident her son was a strong swimmer, having grown up with a swimming pool in the backyard. What worried her was the water temperature.
"I know that river, how cold it is especially this time of year," Jones said. "I was thinking the worst."
Timmons, meanwhile, was soggy, cold and stranded on a river bank.
Timmons said his boat overturned soon after he set out with friends about 4 p.m. from Buford Dam. It should have been a two-hour, five-mile journey from there to Settles Bridge, where the outfitters would have a van ready to pick them up.
"I kind of lost balance in the beginning and got soaked from the start," Timmons said.
Wet and miserable, Timmons said he decided to paddle on ahead of his friends.
At a burly 6'3," Timmons swings a hammer framing houses for a living. He thought his strength would carry him swiftly downstream to catch an earlier ride back. Instead, he drifted past the pickup point and wound up further down the river near McGinnis Ferry Road.
Timmons said he tried to paddle upstream once he realized the mistake. At one point he even tried walking — still in his bowling shoes — through chest-high rapids. Surprisingly, the shoes he'd kept after accidentally wearing them home one night from a bowling alley didn't slip on the algae-coated rocks. But it was getting late.
The old, rusted metal skeleton of Settles Bridge still wasn't in sight.
Lance LeHew, who owns Up the River Outfitters, said the kayakers were warned that the river was about 49 degrees — cold enough to cause hypothermia after prolonged exposure.
Timmons was cold and shirtless, and also was dealing with exhaustion from having paddled for almost six hours. He decided it was best to wade to the riverbank and wait out the night there before paddling back to Settles Bridge.
He was doing just that when a Gwinnett police helicopter flew overhead. It was scouring the area with infrared technology, and a lookout spotted him.
When rescuers on foot found Timmons shortly before midnight, they checked him for signs of hypothermia, said Gwinnett fire Capt. Thomas Rutledge. Then they wrapped him with a blanket and gave him a ride on a fire engine to where his family was waiting.
Timmons said he never panicked, because he knew he would make it home after sunrise. Jones, however, has a new appreciation for what it's like to be "on the other side" as a worried family member instead of a rescuer. She praised Gwinnett police and firefighters for their swift response.
"When you're out there and you're in the same shoes as people waiting for a victim to be found, it's a scary feeling," Jones said. "Looking back, it seemed like an eternity."
Copyright 2008 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
