safetynews

After a second fatality on West Virginia's Upper Blackwater River in just over two years Blackwater Falls State Park is now making it mandatory to sign in at the state park lodge and will ticket any kayakers who do not sign in. First run in 1971 by Joe Monahan, Phil Allender, and Todd Martin, this stretch has become a classic "test piece" for today's high-end creek boaters. Tucker County, which responds to accidents in the drainage, is considering legislation to make anyone requiring help from Search and Rescue responsible for the costs. The State Park has also threatened "drastic actions" if faced with more fatal incidents in the future, possibly eliminating access to the Upper Blackwater from State Park land. AW strongly urges paddlers to cooperate with the park and to exercise extra caution when running the river.

Pamela S. Dillon recently retired as chief of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Watercraft, which administers Ohio’s boating safety, access, and law enforcement programs.  Ms. Dillon, a skilled whitewater paddler, played a key role in bringing the swiftwater rescue skills used by whitewater paddlers to firefighters, rescue squads, and other safety professionals nationwide. As executive director of American Canoe Association she played a vital role explaining recreational paddlesports to her former colleagues in state and federal boating agencies. Her dilligent advocacy prevented many unnecessary restrictions on our sport. She was also credited, as division chief, with saving the Ohio Scenic Rivers program in 2009. Join us in wishing her many happy days paddling at her second home along the Lower Yough!

The Higgins and Langley Awards honor outstanding achievements in swiftwater and flood rescue. This is the first time that whitewater kayakers have been honored.  On October 3, 2010 a kayaker seriously injured his cervical spine in a whitewater kayaking incident on the Ocoee River in Tennessee.  Paralyzed and unable to move, he was rescued by four kayakers he had met only 45 minutes before—Michael Howard, Kevin Sipe, Neal Carmack, and Bryant Haley. These  kayakers chased him though Class II-III rapids, catching him and rolling him upright just before entering a bigger drop. One of the rescuers, trained as a military medic, immobilized his neck while another paddled ahead to get help. The rest got him safely into an eddy and worked with an outfitter to carry him to a waiting ambulance on the road.

Pillow Rock Rapid on West Virginia’s Upper Gauley has been thought of as big, powerful, but relatively hazard free. That changed on October 10^th when veteran paddler Mark Hanna died after pinning on a previously unknown undercut rock.His friends agree on these facts: At Pillow rock, running fourth in a group of 9, he flipped on the big pressure wave that gives the rapid its name. He attempted 3-5 rolls as he washed downstream. As he did this, he was pushed to the right just downstream of Volkswagen Rock (A,B). He came out of his kayak just above a giant rock that guards the bottom of the right-side eddy. As he bailed out, his face appeared for an instant before he was pushed under the right corner of the rock (C).

Photo shows Flatliner Falls, the site of Carl Schneider's drowning on the Upper Blackwater River in West Virginia on October 2, 2010.This classic Class V run was running at 400 cfs, a high but commonly run level, when a group of 7 expert paddlers put in below the falls. Mr. Schneider missed a boof and washed over a 6’ ledge sideways. His bow hit rocks at the bottom, and the left side of his boat washed against an underwater rock shelf protruding from the ledge (foreground). It was an angled vertical pinning, with the current forcing him against his back deck. There was no air pocket.

          On August 29^th  Susan Marie Kaiser paddled the “Lowbin” section of the North Fork of the Feather in an inflatable kayak. According to postings in Boof.com, Ms. Kaiser, a former river guide, flipped her IK on a large breaking wave near the bottom in a long Class IV rapid below the first (Bucks Creek) power house. The current pushed her to the left where she pinned in a slot between a large boulder and a smaller submerged boulder to its left. One of the paddlers in her group managed to swim into the small pocket eddy behind the boulder and tried to pull her out, but she was wedged in too tightly.  The photo by Jeff Sailus shows a kayak pinned in the same spot.

River outfitters and American Whitewater joined together decades ago to protect the Gauley River from hydro development. The success of these business enterprises were one of the key reasons that the river was protected as a National Recreation Area. But with success has come new challenges. Professional guides find the number of kayakers on the Upper Gauley overwhelming at times and kayakers also find the number of rafts intimidating.  Regardless of any “right of way”, it’s everyone’s job to avoid crashes! Here’s what you can do to avoid collisions with commercial rafts.