THE UNCALCULATED RISK

[Music] i wear glasses and every time my glasses get [ __ ] up when i get stuck it's funny it's fun getting stuck [Music] oh [Music] you think it's dangerous no really really i mean a guy in our boat don't even want them don't even know how to swim try seeing little kids coming out of this thing oh they've got a life preserver they should make it well i don't wear one that much you should wear because it's a lot safer i didn't wear the last part because my knees were hurting real bad and i had to put it under my knees [Music] you never fall out did you know a lot of about it before you tried it no he's he's going sailing where is this [Music] yes [Applause] moving water has an awesome force swift deceptive this paddler turned that force against himself by actions which seemed instinctive let's take another look everyone capsizes it's part of the sport but it's what the paddler does in the water that leads to trouble instinctively he tries to stand in the fast current and his foot becomes trapped under a rock instinct can be wrong the river's energy is deceptive it flows beneath the surface out of sight out of mind working the bottom transporting the load but the energy is always there and the river runner must never forget it his game is avoiding confrontation and that takes more than instinct it takes knowledge of the river preparation and skill no question pops up more on a river trip than what's around the bend and so it should because water and rocks team up for some extraordinary effects a hole in a hydraulic are both cases where you have a lot of water coming over a ledge or a rock dropping down the force of the the water coming down over that rock makes a depression in the surface below so you actually do get a hole and the surface water comes back upstream to fill that hole in so you have water coming down making a depression and then surface water coming back up to fill it in and a person or a boat or a raft can get caught in that depression and not be able to get out easily rafts are particularly dangerous i think in holes you think of them as big and stable but once it's in the hole it's probably more dangerous than a canoe or a kayak because it's so big that if you you wash out fall out of the boat or it flips you have to come up underneath that raft caught in there and if you come up under the floor you can't get a breath the the hole the water doesn't really hold you under it keeps bringing you back up but then pushes you under again so you get circulated around and around in it and if you're careful you can get a breath every time you come up but if the raft is in the hole with you you may come up underneath and not be able to get that breath of air that can make the difference so you might might be really stuck under it particular danger in a dam or many artificial obstructions in the river is that they're uniform and even all the way across the river so there's no point at which there's a downstream current going on through the pole there's a uniform even backwash that doesn't give you a spot to get out if the tire hadn't been in there i really don't think we would have lived that was just pure luck maybe the grace of god that it had been floating around in there for days too we would have been sucked right under the boats before us like about three of them had gone over the damn fine and we were the last boat and as we went over it i just remember turning completely upside down and all of a sudden i was just in the water and struggling to get out of the boat and i was reaching for the boat but the boat wasn't there it was slipping away it was getting pulled away and we were getting pulled further and further you know under the water and up up closer to where it comes over and we were lucky we got out because the boat never made it the boat just broke up in pieces you often don't realize how strong that current is unless something stops you so that you get the full force of the current against you but it just has an incredible power then flow varies greatly during the year and in narrow sections of a river the water can rise many feet above normal as a result the river ends up carrying more than just water lodge debris is a serious concern for river runners because its occurrence is so unpredictable at higher water with swift current a spot like this becomes a real hazard uh the water picked up all kinds of debris along the banks logs tree limbs and they wash down the river and tend to get caught in restricted places where you have rocks that come close together narrow passage cracks you get a lot of this debris catching and forming strainers and can be very hazardous to a boater or particularly to a swimmer someone's in the water more so than the rocks because the rocks make a cushion as the current comes along to a rock the rock is solid and diverts the water so that it will push the person or the boat on around most of the times but we've got logs and limbs caught between rocks the water can go on through but there sometimes isn't room for a boat to get through so the power of the water can hold that boater or person against the trees and the force is just hard to imagine unless you've been caught there it uh it can hold a person there so that they're just helpless can't can not even move an arm or a leg just because of the force of the water holding them that way be sure that you know what's around the bin because i've come down just below here on this river and a section we've run hundreds of time came around one day and there was a log completely across the river there no way of getting through and if we hadn't seen it in time to stop in an eddy the raft would have been pinned underneath it probably and and i don't know what would have happened but you want to always be sure you've got a stopping place you can see far enough ahead to have a clear path or a place to stop and scout from logs holes waterfalls they're no problem for the boater who can recognize them early but there is another more insidious danger that is invisible yet it surrounds and overwhelms as surely as the biggest hole the tragic scenario of cold water and ill-prepared boaters is played out again and again on our rivers the day is 80 degrees and yet the water is 30 degrees i knew we had a disaster i knew everybody was over when i was in the water i just knew it we just weren't prepared for the cold the tremendous toll of the cold water took on our bodies i finally got out of the water and i think it was in water up to my knees and i didn't think i was going to make it at that point my legs had lost all their strength i got out on the shore and really collapsed two of the people didn't make it neither of those people were wearing life jackets they were both hanging onto the boat for a short period period of time uh he let go and he was seen going down the river rolling over and over uh and a life preserver following him they were the best swimmers in the group and yet the swimming strength really didn't mean a thing the body wasn't recovered i think for oh four months down the connecticut river equipment is an integral part of white water sport it allows for that margin of error which all boaters need from time to time when their judgment is amiss beyond such crucial items as a life jacket throw rope first aid kit and floatation the river will suggest what equipment to bring is the river cold is it shallow and rocky is it remote and inaccessible the boater should choose his equipment to match the conditions of the river while the right gear can go a long way toward providing a safe trip ultimately the group needs something else something that each person should have in his head before he ever puts on the river we should probably scout this next one it's a sense of the river a sense of moving water the surprises the power the potential with knowledge of the river and the right equipment a paddler is off to a good beginning but he needs one more not so small item called skill skill enables the body to do what is in the mind it translates that sense of water into emotion a motion which must be learned step by step crack your paddle there really talk your wrists over okay i want you to go over wait a second until you feel that your hands are up above the water okay you'll feel the air on them and then off grab your paddle and i'll position you out i'll sweep it out and then you just snap your hips okay teaching the body to perform is a necessary aspect of white water sport frustrating as the learning process may be it is far easier with the aid of experienced teachers and away from the urgency of swift current real whitewater is a poor training ground for basic skills that could be learned on a lake paddle correct that's good [Applause] all right you brought your head up it's a simple fact the paddler who has learned to get the most from himself and his craft has more options when problems arise and as his skill develops so does the intensity of the water he can safely handle but his aim remains constant on moving water the boater strives for harmony not confrontation knowledge and skill are his tools he strives to sense the water to discover a logic in its chaos to draw from its energy to make the power his own [Music] do [Music] now [Music] you