Awesome writing, incredible flight. Be sure to read all the parts.
I've flown in waterplanes more than once from Ranger Lake in Northern Ontario and that take off story had me biting my nails. The pilot on one of those flights said that if you didn't end up with a few branches in the struts that it wasn't really close. Definitely an old timer trying to put some more fear into his passengers but judging by the number of patches on the floats it wasn't complete nonsense. Water take-offs (and landings) are an entirely different experience than on land, especially on rivers.
I've flown in waterplanes more than once from Ranger Lake in Northern Ontario and that take off story had me biting my nails. The pilot on one of those flights said that if you didn't end up with a few branches in the struts that it wasn't really close. Definitely an old timer trying to put some more fear into his passengers but judging by the number of patches on the floats it wasn't complete nonsense. Water take-offs (and landings) are an entirely different experience than on land, especially on rivers.