Canoe tragedy in Slovenia
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Jon Serfas
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Canoe tragedy in Slovenia
JON SERFAS
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insolence
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I am very sorry for the people died and their family and friends suffering now.
We should learn from them and always wear pfd's when paddling - at least on whitewater ! And except a few occasions paddling in a bikini on flatwater at over 25 Degrees, I even do when touring
And avoid artificial dams - you never know and not always see, what there is under water.
Please stay safe
We should learn from them and always wear pfd's when paddling - at least on whitewater ! And except a few occasions paddling in a bikini on flatwater at over 25 Degrees, I even do when touring
And avoid artificial dams - you never know and not always see, what there is under water.
Please stay safe
it's gettin hot
I MAKE THE WATER BURN
purple orange flames
blaze where I put my paddle
I MAKE THE WATER BURN
purple orange flames
blaze where I put my paddle
We have been discussing this accident on a dutch board as well.
I feel very sorry for the family, and even more sorry for those who where in the boats that continued but did not want to go.
Wearing no PFD's is one thing, no helmets another. But if you see the backwash of the dam!! Even with PFD chances for resque would have been small considering the number of people that fell into the water.
A really stupid accident that could have been prevented by just common sense.
I feel very sorry for the family, and even more sorry for those who where in the boats that continued but did not want to go.
Wearing no PFD's is one thing, no helmets another. But if you see the backwash of the dam!! Even with PFD chances for resque would have been small considering the number of people that fell into the water.
A really stupid accident that could have been prevented by just common sense.
That was just insanely stupid, probably fueled by a few adrenaline junkies that pulled the "gee i don't know about this" doubters into the boat.
What i don't get is how they got pulled into the turbine tunnells. I would have thought that the turbine tunnels would have been upriver enough of the drop?
What i don't get is how they got pulled into the turbine tunnells. I would have thought that the turbine tunnels would have been upriver enough of the drop?
-- Cya
Canoe Tragedy
This reminds me of something that happened when I was in college. A few friends and I were out canoeing the Kansas River from Lecompton to Lawrence KS. At Lawrence there is a large dam across the river creating about an 8 foot drop. It was springtime, the river was near flood stage, probably 70,000 to 80,000 CFS, and probably 100-125 yards across at the dam.
There were four of us in two canoes. I was the defacto trip leader, as I had the most canoeing experience and had been on the river many times. I issued what I thought were firm instructions to take out at the levee on river left, on the inside of the curve, about 100 yds above the dam. My bowman and I reached the takeout a little ways ahead of the other canoe. As we are about to get out of the canoe we suddenly see the other canoe headed for the middle of the river. They zipped by us as they shouted, "We're going to shoot the rapids". I was dumfounded as I yelled to them, "Noo, nooo, you don't want to do that!",even as they picked up more speed and got farther out into the middle of the river. Then I realized they did not have their lifejackets on, and I roared out, "Well for God's sake at least put your life jackets on!!"
Amazingly enough they heard me, and within a few seconds had their lifejackets on and zipped up. We sat there incredulous as they neared the lip of the dam. At that moment, they realized what a dreadful mistake they had made and they tried to backpaddle, but of course to no avail. I saw the stern of their canoe go vertical and disappear. We sprinted downstream along the top of the levee, and ran down to rivers edge just below the dam, and saw.....nothing. Just a churning maelstrom of a massive river-wide hydraulic, with entire tree trunks and other debris circulating endlessly. But we could not see our friends or any canoes.
A few moments later there was a policeman next to me, somebody had seen them go over the dam and called the police. I tried to explain to him that our friends had gone over the dam in a canoe. He kept asking me why, and I kept trying to explain that I didn't know why. We then spotted part of their canoe about 150 yards downstream, rapidly headed downriver with the current. I also saw a few broken pieces of a canoe paddle in a powerful eddy right in front of me.
Then, a few minutes later, we saw somebody at least half a mile downstream walking towards us along the levee. As they got closer we realized it was our two friends. They looked like drowned rats, and were visibly shaken and unnerved, but otherwide were okay. They told us that they were circulated in the dam's hydraulic for several minutes. The force of the water was so great they had to hold onto their life jackets for dear life to keep them from being pulled off of them. They were scraped and bruised, but managed not to be crushed by the Cottonwood tree trunks circulating with them. After what seemed an eternity to them, they were spit out on a tongue of water and found themselves being carried downstream at a rapid pace. In their state of near exhaustion they were not able to make their way over to the bank until they were almost a mile downstream.
They were incredibly lucky. First, since I was a starving college student, I didn't have the money for the nice slim Seda PFD's that were available then. So I had these incredibly bulky Navy surplus life jackets with big horse collars. A lower-floatation PFD may not have been enough to pop them to the surface quickly enough to catch a breath before they got taken down for another roll. Secondly, at the last minute they heard my plea and actually put their PFD's on. Finally, there was one partial breach in the dam close to where they went over where there was a tongue of water escaping the hydraulic. After only a couple of minutes, they were circulated into it and shot out downstream.
As the leader of the group, I obviously failed to adequately brief everybody on the extreme danger of getting anywhere near the dam. It just never occurred to me that they would all of a sudden do something so foolish. We all need to constantly tell everyone that may be a novice about the incredible danger of even low-head dam hydraulics where there is no real drop at all and a very benign looking hydraulic. (The first time I saw the Brookmont dam on the Potomac River my blood ran cold, even standing on the bank.) But novices don't realize that you can't easily spot it from upstream, and even if you can, even a 'small' one can be very deadly and impossible to escape once you are caught in it.
Sorry about all the bandwidth usage, but that experience of 30 years ago is still seared in my memory.
There were four of us in two canoes. I was the defacto trip leader, as I had the most canoeing experience and had been on the river many times. I issued what I thought were firm instructions to take out at the levee on river left, on the inside of the curve, about 100 yds above the dam. My bowman and I reached the takeout a little ways ahead of the other canoe. As we are about to get out of the canoe we suddenly see the other canoe headed for the middle of the river. They zipped by us as they shouted, "We're going to shoot the rapids". I was dumfounded as I yelled to them, "Noo, nooo, you don't want to do that!",even as they picked up more speed and got farther out into the middle of the river. Then I realized they did not have their lifejackets on, and I roared out, "Well for God's sake at least put your life jackets on!!"
Amazingly enough they heard me, and within a few seconds had their lifejackets on and zipped up. We sat there incredulous as they neared the lip of the dam. At that moment, they realized what a dreadful mistake they had made and they tried to backpaddle, but of course to no avail. I saw the stern of their canoe go vertical and disappear. We sprinted downstream along the top of the levee, and ran down to rivers edge just below the dam, and saw.....nothing. Just a churning maelstrom of a massive river-wide hydraulic, with entire tree trunks and other debris circulating endlessly. But we could not see our friends or any canoes.
A few moments later there was a policeman next to me, somebody had seen them go over the dam and called the police. I tried to explain to him that our friends had gone over the dam in a canoe. He kept asking me why, and I kept trying to explain that I didn't know why. We then spotted part of their canoe about 150 yards downstream, rapidly headed downriver with the current. I also saw a few broken pieces of a canoe paddle in a powerful eddy right in front of me.
Then, a few minutes later, we saw somebody at least half a mile downstream walking towards us along the levee. As they got closer we realized it was our two friends. They looked like drowned rats, and were visibly shaken and unnerved, but otherwide were okay. They told us that they were circulated in the dam's hydraulic for several minutes. The force of the water was so great they had to hold onto their life jackets for dear life to keep them from being pulled off of them. They were scraped and bruised, but managed not to be crushed by the Cottonwood tree trunks circulating with them. After what seemed an eternity to them, they were spit out on a tongue of water and found themselves being carried downstream at a rapid pace. In their state of near exhaustion they were not able to make their way over to the bank until they were almost a mile downstream.
They were incredibly lucky. First, since I was a starving college student, I didn't have the money for the nice slim Seda PFD's that were available then. So I had these incredibly bulky Navy surplus life jackets with big horse collars. A lower-floatation PFD may not have been enough to pop them to the surface quickly enough to catch a breath before they got taken down for another roll. Secondly, at the last minute they heard my plea and actually put their PFD's on. Finally, there was one partial breach in the dam close to where they went over where there was a tongue of water escaping the hydraulic. After only a couple of minutes, they were circulated into it and shot out downstream.
As the leader of the group, I obviously failed to adequately brief everybody on the extreme danger of getting anywhere near the dam. It just never occurred to me that they would all of a sudden do something so foolish. We all need to constantly tell everyone that may be a novice about the incredible danger of even low-head dam hydraulics where there is no real drop at all and a very benign looking hydraulic. (The first time I saw the Brookmont dam on the Potomac River my blood ran cold, even standing on the bank.) But novices don't realize that you can't easily spot it from upstream, and even if you can, even a 'small' one can be very deadly and impossible to escape once you are caught in it.
Sorry about all the bandwidth usage, but that experience of 30 years ago is still seared in my memory.
"You may encounter a lot of things out on that river, but the Coast Guard won't be one of them."
I recently had a similar mishap with a low-head dam while tubing. The victim was similarly lucky to have not drowned.
I was amazed at just how invisible the feature was from upstream. I nearly went over it myself.
In this case, none of us were trying to be stupid and run something we shouldn't. We simply didn't see it until we were right up on the horizon line.
Scary.
I was amazed at just how invisible the feature was from upstream. I nearly went over it myself.
In this case, none of us were trying to be stupid and run something we shouldn't. We simply didn't see it until we were right up on the horizon line.
Scary.
