Regarding the term sans paddle.

I was reading The Shining by Stephen King when I stumbled on the term sans paddle, and I am not certain whether the word sans means without in this particular case or not. The conversation between Danny, a main character, and Bill Edmonds, a doctor, leads to the aforementioned term.

Bill Edmonds asks Danny whether he would like to be a particular person when he grows up or not, and Danny responds that he could be up in the creek for wanting to be like the person. Bill then says that he knows that creek well, and he has been up there a few times himself, sans paddle.

I have looked up a dictionary and found that the phrase up the creek (without a paddle) means in a difficult or bad situation and the word sans also means without. I can visualize what it would be like to be in a boat without a paddle. However I am not certain whether the term can have a different meaning in this case or not.

For your perusal:
King, S. (2012). The Doctor's Office. The Shining (First Anchor Books mass market ed.) (pp. 199). Anchor Books