| Many
canoe marathons courses feature moving water and rapids of differing degree of difficulty. Some
paddlers may not be aware of the particular dangers posed by shallow water rapids. These smaller rapids can lead to a sense of complacency due to their size however it should be noted that
you can die in a small shallow rapid just as easily as a deep high volume rapid.
Take every rapid seriously.
A particular situation can arise when your foot or leg gets caught in between the rocks and you
can easily become pinned in a downstream position that it is impossible to escape from.
Essentially you will not be able to do a sit-up against the current.
To avoid this, never stand up in any rapid. It is better to swim to safety. This situation
is very well illustrated in Bill Masons’ excellent book, Path of the Paddle
(every paddler should read and understand the content in this book).
Bellow is an illustration taken from this book which illustrates the trap.
Image Courtesy of Key Porter Books
and with thanks to the Mason Family.
The “C” indicates current direction.
To further make the point, the following article has been posted to the American Whitewater Association website:
Report of Foot Entrapment Incident in Rouge Canyon:
"Mr Stephane Hamel, from Mirabel, Québec, Canada, is an experienced OC2 (>30yrs paddling),
but new to OC1 paddler. This was one of his first outings in a solo boat, September 12th,
2009, on the Canyon section of the Rivière Rouge in Québec, Canada - a class III section
of a river he knew well, at low flow conditions (40 m3/s = 1400 cfs). He got a double
fracture of the leg (tibia and fibula) from a foot entrapment on the first drop of the
section, a rocky class III. He was wearing a PFD and was well aware of usual safety measures,
including how to safely swim a rapid. He unexpectedly flipped eddying out, could not roll,
and got his left foot stuck in between rocks just as he bailed out. Fortunately his foot was
immediately released after being fractured. Stephane performed
himself (ouch!) on the shore a temporary closed reduction as his foot was badly out of
anatomic position.
Evacuation out of the river to the nearest hospital was swift, as the put-in is a
short flat section upstream of that rapid, and he was part of an experienced and resourceful
team.
This situation could have been catastrophic would his foot not have been released from
the riverbed, with potential for drowning and difficult rescue conditions. Shallow rivers
pose specific problems, as proximity of the riverbed threatens the shoulders of a rolling
paddler and the limbs of a swimming one - especially like in this case during the short while
before the swimmer can move into a safe, feet up position. Also, OC1 requires specific skills
- frequent need to be on one's offside, ability to roll, paddling a slower and less stable
boat - that good water reading and whitewater experience in OC2 cannot quite compensate for.
Feel free to contact me if you need any more info. Thank you for collecting this data.
I always learn something from the column. Keeps me humbler on the river - and for sure safer."
Martin Talbot
|
