Yeah, you got to start somewhere. Like a shallow lake with a couple experienced people to show you how.
We have a river in town. It's deceivingly dangerous. It looks flat, and appears slow. But it's current is about 6-8mph, and it changes width rapidly. So you're paddling along in a 200' wide section at 5mph, and you round a bend that narrows to 100' and now the current is instantly 10mph, a bridge with three spans is in front of you, and each bridge abutment is 15' wide, so take another 45' out of the width. Now you have 55' of width so your current is now pushing 16-18 mph through each of the four 15' slots. Add to that, there's usually a couple fallen trees hanging on the center abutments and you're now in strainer ****. It's your 2nd day in a kayak....
People just do not know the power of moving water.
I recall guarding during some team practices on the East Race in South Bend. The kayakers were very adamant that they did not need any help, and were actually quite offended if you'd throw them a rope when they got hung up. They'd actually angrilly yell at you.
So, what happens? One of them noses over an obstacle, the tip of their boat jams into something on the bottom, and the water starts pouring over their back, forcing their face and chest down onto their thighs, and that's about that. They aren't going anywhere. They gonna die in about 90 seconds.
Now these are olympic team wannabes. Not inexperienced at all. But they gonna die. No boat can stop above them. No boat can paddle upstream to them. They can't get out of the boat. They can't self rescue. They can't grab a rope if it's tossed to them. They gonna die.
So I radio up to the head gates and they start closing the gates to shut off the water. That takes about 4 minutes. After about 30 seconds, I jump in upstream of the boat and manage to shoot over the obstacle right next to the boat and grab the life vest of the paddler. That slows me down enough so that I can put my feet on the bottom right around where the tip of the boat is stuck. And I am able to grab their chest and pull their head above water enough to get their mouth free. And there I stand for another two minutes until the water goes down enough to free them from the boat.
And what do I get?
Why did it take you so long? Why didn't you throw me a rope? Why do they pay you to stand there? Why? Why? Why? Pinheads.
