Communicate

“ What’s down there Andy” “Well, umm, one drop leads to the next drop which leads to a perfect slide which leads to a series of more drops all of them go in the middle, Its sweet”

Set perfectly under a waterfall with volcano backdrop, this river looked fun even though it was really low maybe only 50 to 70 CFS, just enough water at least for the more channeled part of the river.

Ben, Scott and I did laps of the put in drops before we headed downstream, not to far down we decided to walk around a braided section that was to low to boat.
Soon the channels came back together to form one channel and we found a fun 15 footer that we each ran 3 times, more fun drops and slides followed, we were very relaxed, at this water level this was a no stress river, just enjoying the fast shoots, slide’s and boofs in the Chilean sun.

Not far down stream the river split again into 2 channels both looked impossibly low, I was leading and decided to try the left channel I had to push my boat over a few rocks but made good progress.
I looked behind me as I always do to check on the progress of my friends, they had disappeared out of sight, my immediate thought was they must have taken the other channel, I was thinking I should have gone that way to but I was a little annoyed because I believe in sticking together on the river or at the least letting everyone know what you intend to do.
I went a little further downstream to where I could eddy out and wait for them; it didn’t take long for me to realize that they were not coming so I ran the rest of the left channel which dropped steeply into the right channel just downstream.
I expected to see them here or at least see them coming down the right channel, but there was no sign of them.
I was getting confused; maybe one of them is pinned? I got out and hiked up the right and left channel’s but still no sign of them?
The right channel looked good at least much better than the way I had come and because of this I came to the conclusion that they had over taken me and were now downstream looking for me, probably thinking I was downstream of them. This must be it, where else could they be, I thought?
I took off downstream concerned because I was boating alone on an unknown river but motivated to move quickly so I would catch up.

I got to what looked like a significant drop not big but the whole river pinched down pretty tight; it didn’t look to bad, but looked like it had more punch than anything else so far.
I had been boat scouting much bigger stuff now for over a month while on a kayaking mission in Peru and Chile, my confidence was high perhaps a little too high, I made a half hearted attempt to stop but there was no real eddy and it looked good.

I committed to the drop as I came over the lip I realized my mistake, the drop pinched into a bad hole, I couldn’t get enough of a stroke in to be able to boof the drop due to how narrow it was, in a matter of a second I went deep really deep, I knew I was about to get beat down in the hole I had just plugged, I flipped underwater and resurfaced upside-down in the hole.
I set up to roll and somehow jammed my paddle across the gap underwater, I remember thinking this no longer feels like 50 or so CFS how can the water be this powerful ?
I freed my paddle and tried again my rolled failed.
I’ve been paddling a long time and have developed a very reliable roll it’s been a long time since I had a failed roll, I tried again and failed again I switched sides and tried again and failed again.
I was running out of air but on this last attempt I had realized my true situation and the reason I could not roll.

I was underneath a deeply undercut rock, the left bank was made up of bedrock and the undercut created a cave perhaps 10 feet or more deep.
The hole kicked into the cave and recirculated upstream back into the drop, on my last roll attempt my shoulder actually hit the under side of the rock when I was less than half way up, immediately knocking me back over.

I was quite far under the rock and felt in deep trouble.
Ironically just the night before the boys had asked me when the last time I had swam was, a typical conversation between paddlers that usually brings out some good stories.

My answer was about 4 years ago when my paddle snapped after running a large drop and the broken paddle shaft ended up stabbing me in my hand, it’s hard to roll with half a paddle stuck in your hand. It had felt like I was going to drown at the time but now it just made a good story.
How does that saying go?—“We are all in between swims”- I knew when I told my story that my time was over due, I don’t have a problem with swimming but this was scary and it felt strange and very unexpected to be alone.

I pulled my skirt and swam it took we a while to reach the surface due to the highly aerated water, when I did the first thing I witnessed was rock, rock in the wrong place, above my head!
I was maybe 5 feet under the undercut and going not only deeper into the grotto but back upstream towards the maw of the hole.
I kicked hard towards daylight fortunately I did have some head space and therefore some air, kicking wasn’t working, right now is when I needed my friends and there ropes.

I knew the only way out would be hand holds in the rock. I grabbed for anything, the rock appeared to be basalt which was good at least it wasn’t smooth granite.
Nothing, nothing, my figure nails just scraped the rock in desperation. I kicked again and managed to reach further, got something, salvation, a solid hand hold near the mouth of the undercut, I pulled with one arm against the current, suddenly blinded by the bright Chilean sun I was out or at least my head was. I reached downstream for a new handhold, I felt my paddle with my feet that were still getting sucked into the undercut, and I paused to pull it out with my foot.

I threw the paddle onto the bank above me with my free hand then grabbed again for a hand hold downstream, lucky for me there were a few good ones and I was able to pull myself out and downstream.

I climbed up onto the river bank exhausted and cold but happy to be alive, still not really sure how or why this had just happened, could I have really misjudged the river that much after so many years of kayaking, was I getting to blasé, disrespectful?
Or was it just weird circumstances that lead to my misjudgment, or perhaps a combination of both?
There was still no sign of my friends. Where the hell are they? I felt annoyed like they had let me down right when I needed them, I could have died, where were they? Are they OK? Have I let them down? What the hell is going on?

I watch my empty boat getting recirculated under the rock coming out from under it and doing cartwheels in the hole, flushing, going under the rock again and back for more cartwheels in the hole, it was drowning, that could have been me, I am so lucky! I could have drowned alone in not much more than 50 CFS!
I position myself downstream to a spot where I may be able to grab my boat if it does flush all the way out, after 20 minutes it’s still doing rounds.
It looks as though if I cross the river I may be able to catch it from that side as it does cartwheels. Getting across is risky and tricky, there is a slide downstream and a short section of fast moving water between the hole and the top of this slide it’s a narrow window but the only real way across, swimming down the slide would not be fun but not too bad so I go for it airing towards the slide and away from the hole.
I make it over just before the top of the slide, position myself next to the hole and wait for my moment, the boat comes from under the rock executes a good 3 pointer and I managed to catch the end grab and pull her free.
Emptying my boat of water, I realize that I left my paddle on the other bank, the last thing I want to do is swim back over to get it, but hand paddling does not look like it will work due to a tricky seal start, back into the river. I will have to swim again.
So that I don’t have to swim back to this side once I retrieved my paddle I attach my rope to the boat swim over with one end of the rope and then pull the boat after me.
Finally I am reunited with all my gear.
It must have been 45 minutes since I last saw Ben and Scott?
I breathe, relieved, frustrated, scared and worried for my friends.
What to do? Should I hike out? Where are they?
I scout downstream the river looks fairly easy and I can see the bridge that signifies the takeout.
I put back on and run the river down to the bridge, as I am doing so I finally see Ben walking over the bridge.
I am very relieved to see him but react badly in my confusion, “Ben, where have you been? Where is Scott? I nearly drowned, where the hell were you? “

I may have over reacted a bit, perhaps looking for someone to blame for what was at the end of the day my mistake.
I could tell by the look on Ben face that he felt really bad about what had happened and gradually I calmed down.
It turned out that Ben and Scott had shouted at me as I entered the left channel to say that they were going to portage both channels because they looked to low and therefore hard on there boats, they thought that I had heard them and took off to find the trail, it took them a while to bush whack to the trial but eventually they put back on the river and with no sign of me assumed I was downstream, from there description they must have put back on just downstream of where I swam, they paddled down to the bridge expecting me to be there, below the take out bridge is a nice 20 footer, its possible to run this and then walk back up to the take out, they went down to this drop thinking I must be there, because we had all checked it out before running the river.
When I wasn’t there they started to worry and it was right when Ben was walking up to the Bridge that we saw each other.
To finish the day off on a better note Scott and I put back on and ran the 20 footer together while Ben took Photo’s, it made us feels like we were back together again as friends and as a team.

At the end of the day this incident occurred at least in my mind for a few different reasons one was simply a misjudgment on my part, but the biggest reason was a break down in communication.
I had been paddling with Ben and Scott for the last month and half we knew each other well and were aware of each others capabilities.
Over all we had excellent communication and were a strong team but on this day for one short moment we let are guard down and this simple break in effective communication could have cost me my life.
We were lucky and learnt a lesson I have been taught before, indeed most of the bad incidents I have either been involved with or heard a lot about could be put down to either bad or misunderstood communication.
Mis heard guide lines, river signals gone wrong, boaters not knowing each other on a difficult river, I think it is mandatory you know each others skill levels especially if you are leading.

Or when there are too many paddlers in the group, this is something we all should consider more for it can be very hard to communicate effectively to a large group of paddlers, a large group to me is anything over 5, it starts to get hard to keep an eye on each other to make sure everyone knows what’s going on especially so if there are different levels of experience and skill.
Personally I have strong feelings about this and refused to paddle in a large group unless I feel I know everyone with in that group.
Some of the best military units in the world such as the SAS only work in teams of 4; each person within that team knows each other like brothers and can communicate in silence, in situations where it would be much more difficult to do so in a larger or unknown group.

Communication is key and being able to do so quickly and effectively should be part of the fun of our sport, we should be individuals working together as a tight team and not individuals simply paddling the river with strangers for there company.

If you paddling with strangers start with something easier than the weakest paddlers limit, give your new team a chance to get to know each other.

Paddle alone if you wish, you know the risks but when you paddle with friends be responsible for yourself and for them, work together make sure everyone knows the plan, this is surely what brings us together as river people, enjoying, sharing and rising to the challenge together as a team, this is a big part of what our sport is all about.