Steve_Tk
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2002
- Messages
- 2,833
Post your experiences where you were so scared that you hope you never are put in that situation again.
Mine would be giving CPR to a dead man. I was going Kayaking on the Chattooga river in North Georgia. This was going to be the first time I had ever gone down section 4, which is full of class 3-5 rapids. My friend and I were going with 2 experienced boaters on that section of the river. (None of these pictures are mine)
So we put in, and about 5 minutes down we stopped to scout Woodall Shoals. This rapid is infamous for killing people. My first thought when seeing it was "that can't be it". I was expecting very big water for a class 5 hole, it was only a 3 foot drop and looked more like a class 3. My first reaction was that it looked extremely deceptive. I had been down Bulls sluice (http://community.webshots.com/photo/186330/170593 and http://www.seasonsoflakeburton.com/pictures_10.htm and http://www.carolinacanoeclub.com/gallery/maurice.gif) many times and it was 3 times larger than this rapid. I had played in everything the Occoee had (http://community.webshots.com/photo/186336/314540 picture of Hell's Hole). I'd also been down 6-7 foot water falls (Second ledge http://community.webshots.com/photo/186330/261436 not my picture but that's the rapid, and http://www.carolinacanoeclub.com/gallery/mullis.jpg) and this rapid looked like a piece of cake. But knowing it's reputation I just happened to make a good decision and say that I wasn't trying it this time. Regardless of how easy it looks, I just didn't feel comfortable doing it, so I portaged around it. I couldn't find a picture of Woodall at normal water levels because it's so boring looking.
Well the guys that had done it before said they were going to ride it. I was there for the rescue line. I watched this guy ride right into it and not come out of the hole. My friend's first instinct was to paddle upstream to help him, but there's nothing you can do, the hole would pull you in. All we could see was his boat turning in circles in the hole. I threw the rescue line multiple times but it really didn't help. Sometimes you would see his boat come up and then disapear. We all started to freak out. After about two minutes he just popped out of the rapid upside down. We jumped in to help. Dragged him out and started CPR because he wasn't breathing. Within a minute he coughed up a couple gallons of water. Twenty minutes later the ambulance took him to the hospital. The CPR wasn't the scary part, it was just sitting there helpless for 2 minutes watching someone die.
Let's just say I didn't go down the rest of the river that day. It wasn't till a year later that I faced this http://www.carolinacanoeclub.com/gallery/lisa.jpg.
I'm not ready to try this yet http://webpages.charter.net/lelandd/...llery/elk1.jpg
Mine would be giving CPR to a dead man. I was going Kayaking on the Chattooga river in North Georgia. This was going to be the first time I had ever gone down section 4, which is full of class 3-5 rapids. My friend and I were going with 2 experienced boaters on that section of the river. (None of these pictures are mine)
So we put in, and about 5 minutes down we stopped to scout Woodall Shoals. This rapid is infamous for killing people. My first thought when seeing it was "that can't be it". I was expecting very big water for a class 5 hole, it was only a 3 foot drop and looked more like a class 3. My first reaction was that it looked extremely deceptive. I had been down Bulls sluice (http://community.webshots.com/photo/186330/170593 and http://www.seasonsoflakeburton.com/pictures_10.htm and http://www.carolinacanoeclub.com/gallery/maurice.gif) many times and it was 3 times larger than this rapid. I had played in everything the Occoee had (http://community.webshots.com/photo/186336/314540 picture of Hell's Hole). I'd also been down 6-7 foot water falls (Second ledge http://community.webshots.com/photo/186330/261436 not my picture but that's the rapid, and http://www.carolinacanoeclub.com/gallery/mullis.jpg) and this rapid looked like a piece of cake. But knowing it's reputation I just happened to make a good decision and say that I wasn't trying it this time. Regardless of how easy it looks, I just didn't feel comfortable doing it, so I portaged around it. I couldn't find a picture of Woodall at normal water levels because it's so boring looking.
Well the guys that had done it before said they were going to ride it. I was there for the rescue line. I watched this guy ride right into it and not come out of the hole. My friend's first instinct was to paddle upstream to help him, but there's nothing you can do, the hole would pull you in. All we could see was his boat turning in circles in the hole. I threw the rescue line multiple times but it really didn't help. Sometimes you would see his boat come up and then disapear. We all started to freak out. After about two minutes he just popped out of the rapid upside down. We jumped in to help. Dragged him out and started CPR because he wasn't breathing. Within a minute he coughed up a couple gallons of water. Twenty minutes later the ambulance took him to the hospital. The CPR wasn't the scary part, it was just sitting there helpless for 2 minutes watching someone die.
Let's just say I didn't go down the rest of the river that day. It wasn't till a year later that I faced this http://www.carolinacanoeclub.com/gallery/lisa.jpg.
I'm not ready to try this yet http://webpages.charter.net/lelandd/...llery/elk1.jpg