View topic - Bad news on the Credit River

Jeff asked ...did they have protective gear.
But pfds might not have helped.

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A literal mind is a little mind. If it's not worth doing to excess, it's not worth doing at all. Good enough isn't.  None are so blind as those who choose not to see. (AJ)

Body of missing kayaker Zach Sutherland found
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/k ... -1.3460624

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I'm out of bed and I made it to the keyboard....what more do you want?

The police did release a statement that included the use of PFD's on twitter. I wonder if that was an issue or not. I can't seem to wrap my head around how this happened. I do know the ole saying "the tip of the ice berg", perhaps they were swept underneath and caught in a possible ice jam. I do know the force of moving water is incredible and that it can pin you. Honestly WW scares me to no end and I would like to try it but thats for another thread. Anyone have a good thread on this? Bill Mason Path of the Paddle references?

A few years ago there was a drowning on the Burnt River at Furnace Falls. Of course the talk started about the dangers of a river and powerful forces of currents. The drowning occurred when a new Canadian jumped into a flat water section of river that was well over his head and with no life jacket on....and he did not know how to swim. He simply sank like a rock.

Situations like these are sad because they are preventable. They do not mean you should never go on water or paddle a river. Be safe, use some common sense and you will be fine. People drown in less then a foot of water....any water. That doesn't mean water is bad. People just make poor decisions.

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"It's healthy to be dirty" - Lars Monsen

Very sad news and still no answers to my many questions so far as I've seen. Actually, that's why I came here tonight, to see if the good folks at MyCCR had heard any updates.

I would add to what has already been said that my drysuit is my #1 piece of safety gear - more important than my PFD in my opinion (but that's a moot point since if I'm wearing my drysuit, there's a 100% chance that I'm wearing my pfd too).

I regularly paddle icy water (have paddled November through February so far this winter on the South Saskatchewan River - flatwater) but:

• I dress for immersion.
• I know the river & it's hazards.
• I ensure that the shore ice situation is such that I can get off of the water when I need to.
• I regularly practice self & assisted rescue skills in the winter.
• I generally try to round up a couple of other paddlers so that I am not paddling alone.
• My threshold for other compounding conditions is very low. For instance, if it's -6C and I'm on the water, you can bet that it's calm out.
• I carry technology that if nothing else, will hopefully make my body easier to locate.
• I file a float plan which really just means I tell my wife where I'm going, and when I expect to be off of the water, and follow up by letting her know as soon as I am off of the water.
• I sometimes talk to other paddlers I see in sketchy conditions and extol the virtues of dressing properly and having good rescue skills.*

*I debate this with myself - is it better to live and let live leading by example or to speak up when I think someone isn't up to snuff and likely come across as the self righteous a$$hole? Even my statements above are intended to encourage safe cold-water paddling. Further, just because there isn't ice, doesn't mean it isn't cold-water paddling.

Bryan

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Bryan's website - http://pawistik.net
ColdspringPaddling.com

Will have to see what and if they report on anything.
I can only speculate that it was a large list of things that went wrong here.
If they left the boats as they where imaged in the press for incident scene pictures then that says something else to me.
That said there is a ton of good people and information here.
It is worth researching and then practicing your skills.
Jeff

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Choosing to save a river is more often an act of passion than of careful calculation. You make the choice because the river has touched your life in an intimate and irreversible way, because you are unwilling to accept its loss. — (David Bolling, Ho

Tragic. I hope the recovery brings some ease to the families.

I can't stop scratching my head about both paddles being right with the kayaks though.

Jeff Sutherland has written a memoir titled 'still life', announced in The Independent today.

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For he today that sheds his blood with me. Shall be my brother;

Thanks for updating this thread, Eberlym: "Still Life" by Jeff Sutherland.