I debated for several days about sharing this video. My apologies in advance to the unknown paddler featured who encountered trouble. My intent is not to embarass anyone. I know the whitewater community is one that values sharing and learning from incidents and close-calls on the river, so I believe any hurt feelings that might come of sharing this will be far outweighed by the possibility of someone potentially learning something from this that might better help another paddler in the future.
A bright blue sky punctuated a rare 80-degree Sunday in April in Pennsylvania, and paddlers flocked to Slippery Rock Creek to enjoy the warmest day in the Midwest since before winter started. The level was about 800 cfs, which is around 1.9 feet at the mill gauge and on Jake's gauge. This is not necessarily a good beginner-friendly level for the upper section of the Slip but is a good level for those novice boaters sharpening and advancing their river-running skills.
There were numerous splinter groups within the Keelhaulers Canoe Club group of about 20 and a few other smaller groups on the water who were not directly affiliated with the club trip. Seemingly all the groups collided near the Mill portage around the dam, and people slowly trickled back onto the river after walking the dam, as they waited for the few good spots on the rocks to put back in.
A handful of boaters had put back on the river, and the majority of paddlers were still making their way down to the river when one boater encountered trouble. There is a commonly known small wave feature next to a large boulder on the mill side of the river, just down stream of the covered bridge, that has a strong recirculation and whirlpool-like eddy fence. It is notoriously difficult to get out of this eddy and to avoid being shoved into the hydraulic created by the boulder at the top of the eddy. Most who know about this feature avoid it above 500 cfs, or about 0.5 feet. Below this level, it is a great play feature for front surfs.
The boater in trouble got stuck on the eddy line and could not use the pull of the hydraulic to effectively carve out through the feature and back into the main current. This is really the best means of escape here. You have to commit to using the eddy current momentum to go fully into the feature, surf it and carve out into the current. Unfortunately, the paddler kept getting stuck on the eddy line, caught between the recirculation of the eddy current and the push of the main flow and pushed up against the rocks in an awkward slot.
I happened to be trying to surf my way down when I grabbed an eddy directly next to this eddy on the opposite side of the river and saw the boater having trouble after he rolled a third time that I had witnessed. At first, I decided the best course of action was to wait and observe him to see if he would escape the eddy on his own. I saw another solid boater paddling past, and tried to call out to him to be aware a boater was in trouble and might need help.
The boater failed to escape again, and rolled for the third time that I had witnessed. After at least 2 successful rolls, he exited his boat on what appeared to be the third roll and swam. Still in the opposite eddy, I decided the best choice for me continued to remain and observe to see if he would quickly flush out into the main current, where I could best assist him from within my boat and get him to the river's edge once we were both clear of the eddy. At this time, I did not want to go into the eddy myself, as I knew I would get pulled into the same difficult spot he was in.
As it became clear the swimmer might not escape on his own, my next course of action was to make my way into the bottom of the eddy to try and avoid the pull of the hydraulic at the top of the eddy and see what I might be able to do from the bottom. So, I ferried over. When I got there, I paused again to see if he might flush or kick his way out. The eddy spit him back into the feature, and he got recirculated back into the eddy instead of into the main current. This is when I decided I might need to try and go in, get him and paddle us both out.
Attempting to paddle into the hydraulic to rescue him was perhaps my biggest mistake of all my poor choices so far. I hoped he would grab my bow handle with both hands and wrap his legs around my bow to give me the best chance of using the added bow weight to propel us forward and out into the current. Predictably, at least in hindsight, I got stuck as well when he instinctively grabbed my bow and tried to climb onto my boat. Instead of directing him how to grab my boat, and rather than risk him capsizing me and then both of us being trapped, I directed him to let go so I could get out and try again to help him from the bottom of the eddy. I missed an opportunity here also to direct him to grab my stern handle and use his legs to kick while I paddled to try and propel us out into the main current. Although, given the strength of this eddy fence, I'm not sure if that approach would have been more effective.
I got back to the bottom of the eddy and paused briefly to see if he had flushed while taking a second to blow my rescue whistle, hoping the paddlers still on shore might make the brief sprint down from the put-in with a throw-rope to assist. This time, I determined the next best step I could take was to exit my boat at the bottom of the eddy, scramble onto shore, secure my boat and paddle and use my throw rope to fish him out. In my haste, I threw my boat into a poor spot and had to take a second attempt to secure it so I could retrieve my rope and get back to the swimmer. Because I failed to quickly secure my boat in one toss, I lost valuable seconds. By the time I retrieved my rope and spun around, other boaters who had been on shore made it down to us, the swimmer flushed out of the recirculating eddy and he was successfully rescued.
Thankfully, the boater was merely battered and bruised and a little out of breath, but he seemed alright. He was able to get back in his boat and finish the rest of "the mile" down to Eckert Bridge.
There were several error precursors in my decision-making that could have made this a much more disastrous outcome. Had I made better choices more quickly, this boater could have been rescued much faster.
- Rope position - I always have my throw rope clipped in the front of my boat so I can access it quickly even while sitting in my boat. For no apparent reason, at the start of this day's run I moved it to the back of my cockpit, where it is much more difficult to access. It took over 30 seconds to get my rope from the time I started to exit my boat. These are valuable seconds when it counts.
- Waiting - I should not have waited and hoped for the boater to flush from the hydraulic. As soon as I saw him exit his boat, I should have immediately paddled into the bottom of the eddy, exited my boat, and thrown him a rope.
- Paddling into the feature - Paddling directly into the feature in the vain attempt to fish him out while still in my boat was incredibly foolish and put us both at risk. A primary rule of rescuing someone is to make sure you are not in a position to complicate the incident even further. I should have at least redirected him to grab my stern and tried rescuing him that way.
- More effectively alerting other boaters - I should have blown my whistle with three loud, long blasts as soon as I saw the boater exit his boat. I waited far too long to advise the other paddlers that someone needed help.
