Teen kayaker rescued on Willamette River

http://www.kgw.com/news/local/Teen-critical-after-rescue-on-Willamette-River-138291259.html

This shouldn't have happened like this in MANY ways.  I probably wouldn't be wrong to say no one was wearing proper apparel.  It's also apparent that no one has taken the time to practice rescue either. 

Good grief! The poor kid was in the water over an hour and wound up 6 miles downstream? Hard to believe this is possible, is that an isolated area or was there no way the third kayaker could reach him. So tragic.

I'm sorry, who was the genius that thought a nice leisurely kayak trip while the rivers are this high and fast was a good idea!?  I feel terrible for the kid but why were they out there?  I saw the river near Salem yesterday and was thinking to myself how high it looked.  I wonder how well/not well prepared they were?  The river level was just dipping below dangerous levels.

Hopefull he'll pull thru!  I can only imagine the leaden grief and cycles of "what if?"'s and "Why didn't I"'s his father is going thru.

One of the great things about the kayak fishing communities all across the US is our focus on safety.  Not only is it just common sense but it keeps the states and feds from trying to legislate our safety from a distance.  Stay prepared my brothers.

Not to be judgemental of the people involved as I don't know their situation.  But, to point out a real world example of the safety gospel our ranks invoke almost daily; Propper immersion gear would have gone a long way toward reducing the criticality of the boys condition.  A throw bag and some practice could have shortened his immersion time considerably.  A VHF would have meant that two people were there to give aid.

-Mark-

what else can you say. like you all, I can feel the father's angst in this. reinforces my determination to follow no-go rules.

I am assuming because they found the boy alive he was wearing a pfd.  It could have been a much more tragic story if he had wasn't.

I agree with Rawkfish that this was a bad idea. However, some folks might not think to check the river levels, especially if they were inexperienced. Also, if they were whitewater kayakers they may have thought that the level was no big deal. Hard to say. The good thing is that the boy was rescued! Hopefully a valuable lesson was learned.

The strange thing I do not understand is  why the boy was in the water for so long. The Willamette is not that big. If you casually swam towards shore you would be to shore in 15 minutes. Perhaps he was unconscious or injured. This really drives home the point to dress for immersion.

Be safe everyone.

The strange thing I do not understand is  why the boy was in the water for so long. The Willamette is not that big. If you casually swam towards shore you would be to shore in 15 minutes. Perhaps he was unconscious or injured. This really drives home the point to dress for immersion.

Be safe everyone.

Hypothermia is a game changer.  The more you struggle, the quicker you loose heat.  I'm sure minutes were lost in trying to affect an initial on water rescue.  By the time you realize it's a loosing battle, you're already in situation management mode.  100 ft is a lot of ground to cover when you're loosing body heat much less 100yards. 

I've had a friend dump <100ft from a dock in the MC.  He was wearing raingear.  3 attempts at re-mounting his yak and he was spent.  He had just enough strength to hang on to his seat straps and by the time I had him to the dock he didn't have enough energy to pull himself up.  Total elapse time <15min.   

Don't underestimate the desire and ability of a river or ocean to kill you.   

-Spot-

Thanks for the reminder Spot. It is easy for me to make comments sitting at my desk all warm and dry.

I used to boogie board in the ocean on the East coast on New Years day when I was younger wearing only a bathing suit. The water temp was usually in the 40s - I think the coldest was 42. However, I was entering the water on my terms. I would guess being dumped in unexpectedly would be a very different situation. Also, I would just have to drag myself ashore after about 10 minutes and not try to pull myself back into a kayak.

This video has been posted on NWKA before, but maybe some of the newer members haven't viewed it. It illustrates just how long (30 minutes minimum) hypothermia takes to start to set in.

Look at their "T-Rex arms" in the video, "cold incapacitation" is the real danger. Your body sucks all the blood back to your core to protect your vitals and your extremities cramp. Without proper immersion wear and a PFD you won't be able to hang on to anything and you'll go under long before you core temps hit hypothermic levels.

Also notice how difficult it is to operate your VHF once you've lost your manual dexterity. Fire off your distress call early, so help can start to mobilize toward your position. You can always waive them off if/once you re-board your kayak and feel you have regained control of the situation.


U.S.C.G. Cold Water Boot Camp




 

Thanks for posting that LingBanger, I had never seen that.

When I used to go in I did not have to experience the cold shock response since I kind of eased myself in the water. Plus, in thinking back I would of course get to stand up when I rode a wave in to shore and this probably gave me some relief. I always had kind of felt that my previous experience was a good measure of cold water exposure, but now I think perhaps not.

Again, my prayers for his recovery.  But I'm guessing he had not only a pfd, he must have been wearing something better than jeans and a sweatshirt to survive the hour.

And to be his father in that situation,,,,ahh man that's just something I don't want to know. Roy's tragedy is bad enuf, but to be his dad on top of that??
That just ain't right.
At least he has a chance at recovery. Hopefully he had on at least some water gear.

I'm sorry, who was the genius that thought a nice leisurely kayak trip while the rivers are this high and fast was a good idea!?  I feel terrible for the kid but why were they out there?  I saw the river near Salem yesterday and was thinking to myself how high it looked.  I wonder how well/not well prepared they were?  The river level was just dipping below dangerous levels.

I am going to take some exception to this - we do not know why these guys were there, and if they were prepared for it. If they were occasional paddlers out for a casual experience, then they were clearly out of their element. But maybe they were prepared (or believed they were) for the conditions, but just got overpowered or just had bad luck. We don't know the details.

I give that much of a defense because I too was out on the Willamette - on Sunday - and I was there with the express purpose of experiencing the higher flows. I was outfitted for immersion temperatures, wearing a PFD, etc., and wanted more experience in my kayak with big water conditions. You cannot become a better waterman without exposing yourself to tougher conditions. In the drowning down in Charleston, CBY mentions he and Yaksurf were out in marginal conditions - that they recognized were deteriorating and were getting out of - that they were competent to handle, but others may not. Point is, they didn't gain that competency by going out only in calm and sunny conditions. Our home page has two quotes that both bear on the situation. That is all I have to say about that.

I am going to take some exception to this - we do not know why these guys were there, and if they were prepared for it. If they were occasional paddlers out for a casual experience, then they were clearly out of their element. But maybe they were prepared (or believed they were) for the conditions, but just got overpowered or just had bad luck. We don't know the details.

I give that much of a defense because I too was out on the Willamette - on Sunday - and I was there with the express purpose of experiencing the higher flows. I was outfitted for immersion temperatures, wearing a PFD, etc., and wanted more experience in my kayak with big water conditions. You cannot become a better waterman without exposing yourself to tougher conditions. In the drowning down in Charleston, CBY mentions he and Yaksurf were out in marginal conditions - that they recognized were deteriorating and were getting out of - that they were competent to handle, but others may not. Point is, they didn't gain that competency by going out only in calm and sunny conditions. Our home page has two quotes that both bear on the situation. That is all I have to say about that.

I feel I may have been too quick to throw out judgements.  But looking at the situation simply with the facts we know, it came across me as a rather dumb idea and seemed as though they were in over their heads (dangerously high water and the father also capsized just before the rescue of the teen).  However, I did mention:

I wonder how well/not well prepared they were?

because the thought did enter my mind that perhaps they were experienced kayakers and they were properly outfitted.  The more I think about it though, I feel that if they were properly outfitted and and experienced, there is a good chance the outcome would have been less extreme.  I agree with ndogg though in that it is probably safe to assume they were wearing PFDs or else they would likely still be looking for that teen.  I obviously wasn't there though and I'm not a highly experienced river kayaker so this is pretty much all armchair-quarterbacking on my part.

I took my son down to the river (by George Rogers park and down where the Tualatin dumps in) a couple of weeks ago during the high flow just to look at the water. At GR park I saw these recurrent whirlpools. The water was swirling and churning but would occasionally form an actual whirlpool  that looked to be 5-10' across and dip down a couple of feet while making sucking sound.  I think if you hit one of this in a yak that it might pull you under. Of course I assume you and your yak would re-surface, but honestly I was wondering how deep one might be pulled down by one of those things.

Later, down where the Tualatin dumps in there was a couple coming in who had been out kayaking. They had SINKs and drysuits. They said that they went upstream to where the river narrows but the current got so fast that they could not paddle upstream. They seemed to know what they were doing and had a great time, but I kept thinking that they were lucky that they did not meet one of those mini-whirlpools.