I found this video on youtube of sum1 getting eaten up by a hole, its pretty grabby for what is is imo

what is going on.

I guess this guy had plenty of time to think about his friends in hell for not seting um safety.

I imagine he took a moment to question the wisdom of throwing his paddles away too. That video is like a what not to do of river safety (livebait from upstream of a hole?).

i dont get where all that suction is coming from though the fall isntt that high and from what i can see there isn't an overly high volume of water pouring into it. Can anyone tell me??

The shape of the river bed (maybe in combination with the apparently low flow) could be causing a deep recirculating stopper as opposed to a surface stopper. It looks less impressive on the surface but will hold swimmers much more strongly. On the other hand the sheer number of f**kups and missed chances and the fact that he eventually flushes out on his own makes me think it might have been a normal hole with an idiot in it.

wow...ive never seen anything liked that...i thought the other day when i got worked it was bad..that is like 100x worse...hes dumb for getting rid of his paddle...he would of prolly been out of that hole like 5 seconds after but he didnt have it so he couldnt roll...

if your running rivers where swimming is a last resort due to currents and holes, hand rolling would be an essential skill. Does it not appear in the star system anywhere?

I dont think so, the star system is a little bit strange and I think its currently being reviewed. 1-3* are all flatwater and you only need to show the beginnings of a roll for 3*, 4* you have to be able to be led down a grade 2 river and paddle roll, 5* you have to be able to lead a group down grade 3-4. I guess anyone going for 5* should probably be able to handroll but it doesnt say so explicitly. Personally I think the gap between 4* and 5* is too big and there should be some intermediate step between them.

Here's a tip for you: Don't throw your paddles away. Being able to hand roll is not really going to help you in a situation like that - chances are your not going to escape the holes grasp. Also if you can hand roll there is the tempation to discard your paddles to attempt your hand roll if your paddle roll fails - I've seen it happen on more than one occasion and it usually results in an even more severe beat down. Much better idea is to keep a firm grip on your blades and fight like a bastard

This is what I call a crowd pleaser... option one, you throw your paddle huck your self and ya make it, ooohs and aaahs all around. Option two, you throw your paddle huck your self and ya just about buy the farm... almost with a little help from your friends, and yes.... the oooohs and aaahs to boot.

What did I get out of it... make sure your back up knows how to back you up... the person with the throw bag needs more than just a pulse. Have a plan and stick to it.

I thought it was real cute at the end of the clip when the would be rescuer became a victim. All kidding aside I learn most from my mistakes... even better when it is someone elses mistakes.

spinn120 wrote:

What did I get out of it... make sure your back up knows how to back you up... the person with the throw bag needs more than just a pulse. Have a plan and stick to it.

Unfortunatly throw bags etc are not always enough. That footage is from the ampitheatre triple drop on the Travo in Corsica in low water and looks harmless enough. In reality though it's unprotectable, and lethal, and in high water is pretty much unrunnable, unscoutable and unportageable. You can see from the video that numerous throw bags are thrown to the swimmer and they are all pretty much useless. In a situation like that you have to sit down before hand and work out other options, for instance prehaps a belayed rescue from the bottom would have saved the would be rescuer from getting worked

Unfortunatly throw bags etc are not always enough.

I have been pondering the rescue at hand. What are your thoughts about tieing a rope to an empty kayak, a pfd or a paddle (something that floats). Controlling the amount of rope you let out, and send the item into the stopper. I think this would give the victim plenty of time and room to grab onto the object and get pulled out?

Or any other ideas?

I would advise against going down that road. If you send in an object like a paddle or a boat tied to a rope, you run the risk of having that object sucked down into the hole also. If that happens the swimmer could end up getting bashed off the boat, prehaps getting knocked unconcious or worse still getting the rope coiled round his/her neck.

In a situation like that you'd need to consider options like a live bait rescue (I think at the end of the video a live bait gets sent in). Another option would be to set a belay directly downstream of the swimmer and send a tethered kayaker in from below to give the swimmer a nose. Then the belay guys pull the kayaker and swimmer downstream and out of the hole. If your attempting either of the above though, you'd want to make sure you know what your doing and that you've practised it before - a drop like that is not the place to be attempting your first live bait rescue

Skirnirs suggestion is a valid option. It is basically the same as the tethered paddler option but with the advantage of not risking another paddler in the stopper and the disadvantage of less control over the boat.

I m not sure from the video, is there anywhere below the drop for a rescuer to stand or secure a rope? Most of their attempts are coming from above, it looks like they intend to pull the swimmer/livebait *up* the drop.

For a moment... lets review.... hold on to your paddle when you are or might be biting more than you can chew.

An other advantage of hold on to the paddle is, when I fall back in I try to hold my paddle in front of my face to protect it.
a friend of me, who pays polo, rolled up with his paddle in one hand.
He couldn't brace, fell back in and has an new scare on hid forhead.