Harvey44 wrote
From what I understand, it's not that unusual for people to get tossed from the raft. I'd like to hear tBatt's take on what the guide is taught to do when that happens.
Not uncommon. Depends pretty equally on the paddler, guide, and level of the river has a huge part to do with it. The guide can generally choose a safer line and keep everyone in the boat, but that is pretty much up to the guide's assessment of the crew of what line to/not to hit.
If you find yourself falling out, paddle, get down if it isn't too soon, grab the chicken line around the outside of the boat. The closer you stay to the boat, the faster you get back in. If you're within a few feet of the boat and you have your paddle in your hand, you can extend the t-grip to someone in the boat and they'll pull you along the side and pull you in. Or conversely, someone in the boat can reach their paddle out to you. If you get a bit farther, guides have a bag with 70 feet of rope they'll throw at you. Grab onto that and you get dragged in.
If someone is out and getting far away, paddle the crew as hard as you can towards them. If they're upstream from you, spin the boat around and paddle against the current. If possible/necessary, catch an eddy so they can catch up.
Ideally, you'll have a few other boats around you. Safety in numbers kinda thing. When you're actually running the rapids, the boats of each wave should be right on top of each other. That way if someone falls out of the boat in front, and gets hung up on a rock or in a hydraulic, the boat is right behind them to pull them in. From what I understand, there were only 3 boats on the river. Each a different company. HRRC's boat was the last out, so it was solely up to that guide if anything was to go awry. Which it clearly did.
The safety talk is really important. Many people either aren't paying attention or just go back initial reactions rather than doing what they're told to do. Don't stand up in the river and try to get to the bottom of it so it spits you out. You always want to point the way to go/safety. If there is a strainer, sieve, or really sticky hole, you point away from it, to the clean line. If you go towards a strainer, swim away. If that's not possible, go into an offensive swim and pull up and over it. If it's a shallower rapid and people are bouncing their asses off the ground, they will almost always try to stand up. This is extremely dangerous and the safety talk stresses NOT to stand up in the river. If the person does stand up in the river and there is a foot entrapment, it's extremely hard to pull over and help the person, and requires more than 1 person to do a z-drag rescue. If a person gets stuck in a hydraulic, they always want to swim to the top. That just pulls you closer to the stronger current and pushes you back under again. In those situations, it up to the rafter to remember what to do since there isn't any communication with the guide when your underwater. No one knows whether the lady was stuck in a hydraulic, strainer, or there was a foot entrapment. There are a few strainers on the Indian that could snag someone. There are plenty of hydraulics that would keep you, and it's extremely shallow, so foot entrapment is always an option. I know the article said it was unclear whether or not the lady had a life jacket on, but I'm willing to bet she had both a life jacket and a helmet. I don't think I've ever seen a customer in a HRRC boat without a PFD or helmet. All three previous hazards are possible even with a PFD. And, of course, head trauma is still a possibility with a helmet on.
I probably lose a person from my boat maybe once every four trips. Some people will lose two people a trip, every trip. Some people (Swimmin' Jim!) will probably only lose one person a year. Like I said, depends pretty much equally on the guides and customers. (Ok, maybe a bit more weight on the guide).
I know it
should be a surprise that he was "intoxicated", but I can't really say it was. If it were another company, or another guide, then I would be much more shocked. But what does "intoxicated" really mean? Media hype (especially when the the media is even putting it in quotes)? Was he blowing a .02 from partying the night before? Chances are, no, but it's still not something that has been set in stone.
The accident could have been truly just that, an accident, and there was nothing the guide could have done. However, the previously tarnished name of the company may have a big say in what his outcome is going to be. I wonder what the repercussions would have been if he wasn't "intoxicated". And, if that gets taken out of the picture, I wonder how much of Cunningham's previous fuckups are going to fall onto his guide.
Locked
