From Les Bechdel: Yes, Drew Hammond did make an epic "do or die" rope toss that day on the Bio Bio. He and Dick Eustis did the initial CPR. Actually, the Sobek people did the body warming of the victim that night. They reported that they could only warm for ten minutes, or so, before they would start shivering. The victim "Billy" remained unconscious until about nine or ten that evening. I also recall a pretty rowdy party that night at Lava South. I also think that Drew also got the Red Cross award.
By happenstance, Sobek was also in Lonquimay. I visited their crew to discuss dinner times for sharing the only good restaurant in town as well as put-in days. We were going to start on the same day, but further downstream from where Sobek was launching. They were skeptical of us Easterners in paddle rafts. They were running 17 foot Avons and had one paddle raft. We had a bit of a confrontation with one of their drunken guests who told us that “we didn’t belong on the river and we didn’t know what we were doing”. His name was Billy. I am sure he was picking this vibe from the Sobek crew.
This venture of ours proved to be a challenging expedition. We were cooking over wood and weren’t really set up for rain. Since we never had rain the previous year and since all the locals had told me “that it never rains in January”, Susan and I hadn’t even brought a tent with us. We did have a six by eight ground cloth that we rigged to protect our heads but had to put our feet into dry bags to stay remotely dry.
The water was so terrifying that we were making the guests walk around the big Class V rapids. While the guests watched, the guides paddled all the rafts. Doing laps over boulders and through brush was exhausting. I typically ran each rapid five times: once in kayak to show the line, and then back for four paddle raft trips with the guides as crew. We got to Lava South and decided to “ghost boat” it. This involved pushing the empty rafts off at the top of the rapid and then Dick and I were to dive into the river with a rope to clip into the boat and swing it into the micro eddy above One-Eyed Cyclops. I think we were all hypothermic at this point and not thinking clearly.
Susan and Spe were ready to push off the first boat, when we all saw one of the Sobek rafts coming downstream upside down. They must have flipped at Lost Yak, which was just upstream. There was one person in the water, weakly swimming towards river left. By the time he came through Lava South he was floating face down. Dick and I dove in and turned him face up. It was Billy. Dick was on belay and was able to hold on to Billy and the rope meant for one of rafts. The current swung he and Billy to shore where there were a couple of rafts from Adventures Afloat. There was too much water pressure for Dick to hold on to both Billy and me, so I let go and was able to swim to shore just making it above the Cyclops Rapids. Dick and Drew did CPR and got him breathing again though he remained unconscious. Mike Fischesser, director of the North Carolina Outward Bound School, organized a caterpillar pass up the steep slope and started treating him for hypothermia.
Ten or fifteen minutes later, Sobek came thundering down the river and all of their oar rigs were able to gain the small eddy. Dave Shore, the trip leader, was wigged out because they had lost an ammo can with all of their guests’ passports and money and wanted to use my kayak to chase after it. I had to calm him and tell him about Billy. They hadn’t realized they were missing one of their guests! All three companies organized a potluck that night and the evening turned into one huge, drunken party. Billy recovered okay and walked the rest of the way out. All three companies aborted their trips and arranged for vehicle transport taking out just above the Royal Flush Canyon. Dick, Drew and I ended up getting an award from the American Red Cross for having saved Billy’s life. After that trip, Sobek had a different opinion of NOC and we worked well together in the years to come.
