If anyone has more information about this incident they would care to share please e-mail. My condolences to the family and friends.
There were two oar boats one paddle boat with oar assist and 2 inflatable kayaks in the commercial group. The woman was the last to enter Chittam rapid and apparently capsized and was sucked down by the swirly water. She was not seen again until spotted floating face down in an eddy .
Both a guide and a member of a private group made very heroic efforts to get to the woman and save her life; perhaps risking there own in an attempt to save another .
The Main Salmon was flowing at 27,300 cfs on May 31st.
Following is an eye witness report on the incident:
Vince,
While we were on the Main Salmon nearing the end of our trip we were
approaching Chittam rapid when we could see numerous people on the bank
waving there arms and blowing whistles obviously very excited . I
entered the rapid first from our group and could see a person moving on
the bank but bent over . I was stuck in the swirly water and our entire
group, who entered the rapid behind me, passed me by. One raft told me
the people on the shore needed help and my response was I had my hands
full right now . My canoe was taking on a lot of water side surfing the
powerful eddy lines and swirls. The only thing I could do at this point
was to get to shore and empty out the canoe . Two catarafters from our
group were able to enter the eddy on river right and one was able to
make a strong hard ferry to enter the eddy where the victim was . What I
thought was the victim bent over was in fact a guide from the commercial
trip who had worked his way back up along the cliff wall shore and
found the woman face down in the eddy and he jumped in and pulled her to
shore and started CPR . When the member of our group reached them he
helped with administering CPR For a period of time . Then the decision
was made to load the body on the raft to get it down to the boat ramp at
the end of the rapid where family and the rest of their party was
waiting.
The victim was 43 year old woman from Massachusetts who was in an inflatable kayak and was wearing a helmet, life jacket, a wet suit and splash jacket. Another member of the party said that she had swam five times previously and she was nicknamed "Cat woman" because of her multiple close calls.
Richard left Memphis on 6 August 1999 to take a six month sabatical, touring and kayaking in USA and Canada. At 12:20 p.m. on Staturday 14 August 1999 Richard and a fellow paddler, Brad, got into the North Fork Payette river, paddling between Boise and Cascade.
After successfully negotiating two rapids on the class 5/6 river Richard got stuck in a hydraulic for 30 seconds. Brad looked towards the bank and when he looked back Richard was out of the boat, looking dazed. They went through two more rapids, Richard swimming and Brad paddling, and during this time Richard was concious and he and Brad had eye contact.
Richard swam and got one hand on Brad's boat, but Brad's paddle broke and he capsized putting both men in the water. When Brad surfaced he yelled at Richard to swim. Brad managed to get out of the water about 200 yards further down. Brad's wife, who was following in a car, raced along to the camp site where she alerted people that the men were in trouble.
Charlotte Pierce, a 47 year old nurse from Seattle, and her boyfirend Mike had photographed the incident from the riverbank. They drove to the camp site where Mike and another man caught Richard as he floated face down in the river toward them.
There was a strong current but the water was not too cold. Charlotte, who has taught CPR at the hospital for the past 15 years, immediately began ventialtion with another lady, also trained in CPR, doing the compression. They worked for 20 minutes. Two policemen on site took over followed by the ambulance crew and helicopter paramedics. After 45 minutes CPR they stopped. There had been no response.
Charlotte said "Richard looked such a beautiful young man. His face was completely peaceful."
Richard's body was taken to McCall and the coroner there confirms that Richard had sustained a blow to the head despite being fully equipped and wearing the most up-to-date equipment and helmet.
Richard's body will be cremated, after a private viewing by his family, at Boise Crematorium, 1200 North Cloverdale Road, Boise, Idaho at 11 a.m. on Thursay 19 August 1999. His ashes will be strewn in the North Fork Payette River where the accident took place the following day.
Memorial services will be held in Memphis and Pudsey, West Yorkshire, England.
We thank everyone for their good wishes and condolences which have poured in from all over the world. Please do not send flowers. If you would like, please make donations to St Jude Childrens Research Hospital.
We can be contacted at 101766.3511@compuserve.com
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I met Richard for the first time at the put in below smiths ferry. I was waiting for some one who knew the river well willing to lead me down. I had run the lower five the previous night with a local guide and was anxious to do the whole run. When Richard drove up I introduced myself and told him though I hadn't run the top sections, I was looking for someone to go down with. He smiled and said that he had just run the river the first time the previous day from just below Disneyland down. Though I didn't specifically ask him, it seemed like he had run it alone. We agreed to go down together and I offered to have my wife run shuttle for us.
In private, my wife and I had a conversation to this respect. "Shouldn't you wait for some one who knows the river?" "I'd like to, but we've been here a while and it seems like Richard intends to do it alone. Maybe I should go down with him." Let me say now that this was just supposition and the actual circumstances could have easily been different. Richard could have intended to wait and could have been more than up to doing it alone, but these are the circumstances that put the two of us together on the river. I trust a lot of you have been in similar situations.
As we put on we pleasantly got to know each other. Richard was very friendly and we soon were talking about the Southeast rivers were we both resided. The weather and water were warm and it was a beautiful place to be. We both put on with smiles after I had some wild berries growing along the bank. The Flow was somewhere between 1500-1650 cfs. Richard told me that the previous day he had intended to walk Jacob's but had decided to run it when there. He mentioned that his line there was clean but that he had some trouble in Golf course. I had scouted several times from the road and told him what I was going to at steepness, the first rapid. Because he had but in below Disney land we were on equal terms in the first three named rapids and took turns leading and doing a lot of eddy hopping at a fast pace. My wife was following us at the turn offs along the road.
As we came through Nutcracker I was leading and eddied on the right above a large hole . Richard eddied on the left. I think it was the crux move towards the bottom of the rapid but I am not positive. I skirted past right of center and Richard went mid center and dropped down into the hole. I had immediately eddied on the right to watch Richard come through. He was side surfing mostly upright for approximately 30 seconds. I could only se his paddle above the froth from the eddy. Then his paddle floated past and soon after Richard came out. Richard was conscious and floating feet first but didn't seen O.K. I had immediately paddled out to intercept him but he did not grab my bow as I met him mid stream. I followed him through the next portion of the rapid and noticed that he wasn't trying to swim to shore. He was hitting rocks and going under a lot as he floated down. I met him again and while screaming his name tried to get him to grab my boat. He did finally and I worked to get him to the side. Eddies are very small through this entire section. I did mange to get him to a small eddy but he would not let go of the boat to grab some rocks along the bank. I was screaming for him to grab the bank as we floated out backwards. I think we had entered Disneyland at this point and I flipped with him a hold of my boat. I hit my head on a rock while upside down, but I had a helmet with full protection. I learned later that the water pressure had punctured my eardrum from this blow. When I rolled up Richard had let go and was floating downstream. I paddled to him again, But couldn't get him to grab the boat. I finally pulled him up onto my deck and he grabbed on. I got him to another slightly larger eddy. I really though he was going to be all right when I got him in but he would not grab onto any rocks. We floated down, my boat half in and half out of the slender eddy, until I hit the rock at the bottom and we floated into the next drop backwards. I flipped again and could feel Richard still hanging on as I tried to roll. My paddle then snapped in half mid shaft. I tried to roll with one blade but could only get up part way and had to swim myself. I immediately swam to the side through a few more minor drops and crawled out only slightly bruised. The last time I saw Richard alive he was floating around the bend with our gear towards the slight let up and S-Turn.
I believe in God. The first thing I did when I saw Richard leave me was pray that If it was God's will Richard would be O.K. I knew he was in terrible trouble. The Lining of his helmet had fallen down close to his eyes but he was not able to even move it so he could see clearly. I then walked up to the railroad on the river left side and started hiking down to a place where I could swim across. It took about 10-15 minutes to Big Eddy and as I came down to the river I saw a group of people along the bank Performing CPR on Richard. I swam across and met them. Richard was blue and cold but didn't have any major contusions or obvious broken bones. Despite having a large team of ER Nurses to help He did not recover. There were not even any broken ribs or air in the stomach from CPR. He did have a slight bruise on the top of his head which the coroner discovered.
Several people saw a portion of the event from the bank as they were taking pictures including my wife. Because the current is so swift no one saw the full events. My wife, who was there just below the initial swim, saw his paddle and me float past with Richard holding on did not even see me swim and crawl out of the river moments later. Several people did see me swim and crawl out and followed Richard down as much as possible.
There will be those who will criticize. I see many mistakes I made. My view is that all of us choose to paddle with less than perfect conditions some times. Each of us has to weigh the circumstances and do what is right for them, accepting the consequences of those choices. I have to live with the memory of the events of this day. Though I wish they had not happened, I can see how this can touch the lives of those who knew Richard for the better. He seems to have had many friends and enjoyed his life. I feel like perhaps I was supposed to be there to help in any way I could while this event took place. I offer my deapest simpathy for any friends and family of Richard Carson.
We both had adequate gear for this river. Richard did paddle with a motorcross helmet but it offered at least as much protection and probably much more than most helmets. He also had a safety/extraction PFD. I at least had a throw rope. My wife also paddles easier water and could help from the shore. He had been boating since he was ten I was told, though maybe not all on whitewater. We could have used someone knowledgable in our group. If we had had someone else in our group perhaps he would be alive today, and perhaps not. If my paddle had not broken I feel I would have been able to save him. Someone might of been able to pull him out down stream or he might of by chance floated into an Eddy as my boat did. These don't matter because they are not the reality.
For those of us who run class five a lot the choices are much less in number. If I went home instead of running the river every time I paddle could only paddle in a group of two I would hardly paddle. I would also never travel very far from home as my work schedule rarely correspondes with my regular paddling companions. Yet there are also times when I can make much more of an effort for safety.
To some the N.F. may be one of "the Everest's" of the sport but in reality though it should be respected it is well within reason for a percentage of seasoned class five boaters. It is a stunning gorge with excellent whitewater in some of the most beatiful land in the country. I had one of the best trips I have had in years down the lower five and was thoroughly enjoying the top until it happened. It was a river I had wanted to do for years and hope to someday run it again. Whatever, however, and with whom ever you choose to run rivers may God and your good sense protect.
Brad Moulton
Hickory NC
Any one with questions about the incedent is free to E-mail me:
iesman@abts.net
The "Strainer fell into the water during high winds July 7.
Shoup resident John Hulihan reported the hazard to the North Fork Ranger District July 8. The district officials told him they were short handed and could do nothing about it. The Forest Service is investigating.
Salmon-Challis National Forest spokesmen Kent Fuellenbach said the agency's hands are tied by a policy which bans them from removing anything from the stream.
"Our attorneys have told us if we remove a log from the river, then we are obligated to remove all logs because if we don't and someone gets hurt on one then they can sue us," Fuellenbach said. "If we remove one log, where do you draw the line?"
As an example, Fuellenbach cited Haystack rapid on the Middle Fork Salmon, where a weather induced blowout dumped large boulders in the river and made the rapid more dangerous.
Do we go in and move all the rocks?" he said. "There are inherent risks in running the river; we can't make the river safe for everyone. I know we sound like cold blouded bureaucracy but all we can do is say we are sorry."
Rafters say the Forest Service has extracted other logs. John and Luke Cranney of Rawhide Outfitters removed the tree Monday after getting Forest Service permission.
The East Fork of the South Fork of the Salmon near Yellow Pine is one of the toughest most relentless pieces of class V+ whitewater in the country. On Monday, May 31st Bert Ole Funk, 29, was attempting a high water run with six friends. An article written for the McCall Star News by Roger Phillips described the following chain of events: Funk apparently flipped while trying to enter an eddy above Flight Simulator. He rolled up, missed a second eddy and drifted backwards into a large hole. He washed out quickley, but missed several roll attempts, and bailed out. He swam the rest of this long rapid, getting battered by many large holes. As the group gave chase, several people from shore reached him with accurately placed throw ropes. The group believes Funk was still conscious, but he could not grab a hold of the rope. He was pulled into shore by another party two miles downstream. They tried CPR, but by then it was too late. Rescures found deep gouges on Funk's helmet and they believe a blow to the head may have stunned him and left him helpless.
CASCADE - A Fraser, Colo., man has died in a kayaking accident on the East Fork of the South Fork Salmon River. Burt Ole Funk, 29, was doing rolls in the river about five miles west of Yellow Pine on Monday (5-31-99) when witnesses said he came out of the kayak on the third roll, Valley County Sheriff's deputies reported. Funk failed to grasp a line thrown to him from the bank, they said. Cardio-pulmonary resuscitation was performed after Funk was pulled from the water but it was unsuccessful. A deputy at the scene said there was a notch on Funk's helmet, suggesting he possibly hit his head severely during the incident.John Bender, 53, was the only one of eight rafters, including his wife of one week, who was unable to make it to shore after the guided raft flipped around 1 p.m., said Chelan County Undersheriff Doug Tangen.
A guide from another raft was able to pull Bender out of the river and performed CPR until emergency crews arrived. Bender was revived, but died later Saturday at Central Washington Hospital in Wenatchee.
Tangen said Bender was an experienced rafter and was training to be a rafting guide. The death has not been ruled a drowning, he said.
An autopsy was scheduled for today.
Tangen said Bender and his new wife, Tara, were rafting with members of their church. The raft was operated by River Recreation of North Bend.
The accident happened near Gorilla Falls, between the railroad trestle and the bridge over Highway 2 at Dryden.
BY CHRISTOPHER SMITH
Spring runoff levels in the Colorado River system are below average, but the West's longest river has claimed three lives in the past two weeks and spurred numerous water rescues, prompting officials to warn recreationists to treat even a calm-looking stretch with respect.
"What it comes down to is that it really doesn't matter how fast the Colorado is running. The river is always dangerous," said Bill Stringer of the Bureau of Land Management in Moab, which recently investigated the first drowning in Westwater Canyon in 15 years. "Westwater at any level is still a whitewater section of river, and that means you can't stand up in it, you can't swim across it and it's not a swimming pool."
William Ticknor of Grayson, Ky., drowned May 26 when his rented raft overturned on a rapid above a section of river known as the "Room of Doom," 40 miles northeast of Moab. His wife, daughter and son-in-law were rescued almost immediately by another boating party that included a nurse and EMTs, but Ticknor was unable to remain clinging to a rock in the swirling current. Despite wearing a lifejacket, he was pulled underwater and did not surface for several minutes. He did not respond to CPR and was pronounced dead at the scene.
"The rangers had questioned these peoples' experience and suggested they hook up with someone and follow them through the rapids, but they were confident and had a valid permit, so we had no authority to prevent them from going," said Stringer. "From what witnesses tell us they had a real hard time, hit the rapid sideways and were thrown out."
The next day, May 27, an oarsman and a passenger on a group trip were thrown from an 18-foot rowboat in Big Drop Three rapid in Cataract Canyon on the Colorado River. While the oarsman regained the boat, passenger Jane Johnson was swept about a mile downstream through Class IV rapids before another boating party reached her, floating face down and pulseless. Members of her party began CPR and revived her after 20 minutes. A commercial boating group radioed an aircraft passing overhead, which notified a medical helicopter that flew Johnson to a trauma center in Grand Junction, Colo. She is expected to fully recover.
From the Seattle Times, Monday, 10 May 1999: (reposted on RBP)
Tacoma man dies in rafting accident
The King County Medical Examiner's Office has identified the man who
died Saturday in a rafting accident on the Green River as Lawrence
Richard Jobst, 34, of Tacoma.
Jobst was with friends on a rafting trip near Kanaskat-Palmer State Park about 2pm Saturday when his raft struck a rock and he was thrown out and caught under a long, according to the county Sheriff's Office. None of the four other people in his raft was injured.
Search-and-resuce crews removed his body from the river yesterday morning.
Comments on RBP: The river (dam controlled) was flowing at about 1250 cfs, which is towards the low end of runnable levels for rafts. The flow was dropped to about 850 cfs for much of the day Sunday, almost certainly to assist the recover of the body (the flow through the dam is very rarely adjusted between Friday evening and Monday morning.)
The victim was identified late Monday as Thomas A. Bell, 51, by the King County medical examiner's office. Bell was a Seattle physician and also was public health officer for Cowlitz, Lewis and Wahkiakum counties.
Searchers in a sheriff's helicopter spotted Bell's body about 200 feet downstream from where he and a friend had been sucked under a log jam Sunday afternoon.
A ground party recovered the body from the middle of the river, where it was caught on a snag, sheriff's spokesman John Urquhart said.
Bell and a 57-year-old friend, in separate kayaks, were both pulled under the jam on the river southeast of Preston. After being trapped under water, the older man was able to free himself and made his way to shore, where he collapsed for about 90 minutes, he told officials. He said he saw Bell floating face down in the river but was unable to reach him.
The survivor hiked cross country until he found a logging road that led to Washington 18 south of Interstate 90. He got to his car on the highway about 7 p.m. Sunday and called authorities, Urquhart said.
The survivor was taken to Eastside Group Health Hospital and was treated for hypothermia and the water and river sediment he had ingested, Urquhart said.
Some started partway through the particularly tricky rapid, knowing that the top part was more dangerous. A few started at the very top, confident that they could maneuver the rocks and logs in the narrow gap. One didn't make it to the bottom.
The body of Scott R. Richards, 36, a Chelan County PUD engineer who moved from Pennsylvania to Wenatchee in January, was recovered from the river Saturday afternoon as his newfound friends looked on in horror. "We were just a bunch of friends getting together," said kayaker Brian Behle of Cashmere. "But stuff happens out there that you can't control."
Behle said none of the others had ever kayaked with Richards before. But Richards was a member of the American Whitewater Association and had kayaked extensively in Pennsylvania. Behle had climbed rocks with Richards last year and considered him to be conservative in his risk taking. So he wasn't concerned when Richards, who had never kayaked on the Icicle Creek before, joined two other kayakers at the very top of the stretch known as the Bridge Creek rapid.
"He said he was real comfortable with the rapid," Behle said. "He said he'dd one other rapids similar to that." But shortly after they entered the water, Richards and another kayaker ran into trouble in an area where a log was pinned against a rock, just a few hundred feet down river from the campground. As the first kayaker was fighting to get his boat free from the strong current, Richards lost control and his boat ended up on top of the other one and then turned over, pinned against the rocks with one end pointing straight up, recalled kayaker Pat Lynch of Cashmere. Richards was completely submerged in the icy water. The first kayaker was able to get out of his kayak, and Lynch, who had abandoned his own craft to help the others, attempted to free Richards. When he couldn't budge the kayaks, he reached under water into the cockpit of Richards' kayak and discovered that it was empty.
"We never saw him again," he said.
Behle said everyone knew that the rocky area was dangerous, but said it looked deceptively easy to avoid.
"What we didn't know was that it was undercut rocks," he said. "There was a lot more current going into it than it appeared. It was at an area of the rapids where you had to paddle hard from one side of the river to the other. There was also the piece of wood, which is always bad. "He just happened to end up in a place where he didn't want to be," he added.
The kayakers were joined by Chelan County sheriff's deputies, Leavenworth firefighters and white-water rescue volunteers in their search for Richards. But the search had to be called off after dark Friday. It resumed Saturday morning, with rescuers using a winch to move the log where Richards disappeared to find and free his body.
Richards had no family in the Wenatchee area. His parents were expected to arrive in Wenatchee late Sunday. The other kayakers were identified by the Sheriff's Office as Carl Schill and Jeremy Tritt, both of Wenatchee; Jason Carver, Brandon Freeland and Sarah Alm, all of Cashmere; Robert Pfannenstiel of Ellensburg; and Grant Weidenbach of Klamath Falls, Ore.
Behle said all but three of the kayakers had already run the Icicle Creek a few times this year. He said they never go through the Bridge Creek rapid in high water, but they didn't consider the rapid to be overly dangerous on Friday. After investigating the accident, Chelan County sheriff's deputy Matt Fields stressed, "I don't want to imply in any way that these people were doing anything reckless."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- I'm writing this not to focus on the death of a rafter. That is a very sadstory in it's self. I'm writing it to show how I feel about the boaters I boat with on a regular basis.
This last Saturday, April 24, 1999, there was a death on the Yuba River, Goodyear's Bar section at the rapid named "Two Pair". Please, all rafters, cat boaters and kayakers stay away from the channel on the far left. It is very dangerous.
After having a nice boating day with my family and friends we learned of a missing rafter on the river. Monte could see the people searching for her were upset and not accomplishing the job (lack of correct equipment and knowledge). So off we went to help Monte, Nick, Glen and myself. After several hours we only came up with her life jacket. The recovery had to be called off for the night.
Back at our camp Nute & Sonja cooked Monte, Nick and my dinner, while Debbie tried to fed everyone. WHAT GREAT PEOPLE.
The next day the Downeville Fire Chief asked for our help. We all had planned to boat the Sierra City section, but could not leave this poor woman "Margaret" trapped on the river. So we picked up more recruits Nute, Eric, Chris, and Debbie, and off we went to help. I'm not sure how long we were on the river looking for Margaret, but around 1:30pm Monte and Glen were sure they had found her. After another hour of trying to un-pin her off a rock they (Monte, Glen, Nute, Nick, two of her boating friends and a forest service employee) pulled her on to the left river bank. Margaret was finally free and her family could have closure. I'm not sure how everyone else felt at that moment, I was in shock. I knew we were doing a recovery not a rescue, but some how seeing Margaret confirmed that she had passed and made it real. I thank the seven men that were able to pull her on to the rocky bank, because I was not able to help, my feet would not move.
This is written as a THANK YOU to Glen & Debbie, Nute & Sonja, Eric & Chris, and my husband and son.
After seeing this group of people pull together to help a family they had never met have closure, I confirmed what I already knew. I boat with great people. I feel good knowing if I'm in trouble they will do what they can to help me. I feel special in having people like this in my life I can call my FRIENDS.
THANK YOU
Tam
"MARGARET GO IN PIECE"
By Stuart Tomlinson of The Oregonian staff
SANDY -- A Gresham man is missing and presumed drowned after his kayak was trapped beneath a fallen log in the Bull Run River on Monday.
Dave Aszman, 18, was kayaking on a swift portion of the river just upstream from Dodge Park about 3 p.m. with a friend, Erik Eekhoff, 27, also of Gresham, when his kayak floated sideways into a large tree. The men, who were described as experienced kayakers, had started their float off a side road below Bull Run Reservoir No. 2.
"It (Aszman's kayak) hit broadside, twisted and went under," said Alice Lasher, spokeswoman for the Sandy/Boring Fire Prevention Division. "Our first report said his head was above water, but apparently he was fully submerged."
Lasher said Eekhoff paddled downstream to Dodge Park and then ran through the park -- where he asked park visitors to call 9-1-1 -- to the Portland Water Bureau's Bull Run Watershed Office.
"He said he needed a chainsaw-- quick," said Portland city worker John Robson. "His friend was trapped under a tree."
Robson and several other city workers grabbed a chainsaw and drove Eekhoff back to the park, then ran along a shoreline trail to where Aszman was trapped. Eekhoff paddled his kayak across the swollen river to the tree, rigged a harness to support himself and cut the tree free.
"The kayak popped to the surface," Robson said. "It stayed upside down and we couldn't see if there was anyone inside."
The kayak swept past a score of water rescuers from the Clackamas County Interagency Water Rescue Team -- including members of the Sandy, Boring, Estacada, Gresham, Clackamas and Gladstone fire departments -- who had rushed to the river to help.
"It floated by right in front of me, but I couldn't tell it if was heavy with water or heavy with a person," said Lasher, who was one of the first people on the scene. "His friend was sure his friend was in the kayak, but we weren't sure. That's why we put people upriver, downriver and mid-river . . . we were not convinced he was in the kayak so we searched the entire route."
Using inflatable boats, rescuers scoured the river above and below the spot where Aszman went under; others stood watch on the shore from Dodge Park to Oxbow Park to see if he could be found. Rescuers quickly spotted a life vest that was zipped and buckled on a small island across from the park. It was later determined to belong to Aszman.
Sgt. Bruce Pearson of the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office called the LifeFlight helicopter ambulance in case the victim was recovered alive. The helicopter hovered over the river for about 30 minutes, its crew looking for Aszman until they were called away.
"What we were really hoping is that they would be needed to take the victim to the hospital," Lasher said about an hour after Aszman disappeared. His kayak, bent and crumpled, was found about a mile downstream on the Sandy River at a spot called "the pipeline" -- the place where the large pipe that carries Portland's drinking water crosses the river.
After two hours, the hopes of making a rescue dimmed. By dusk, the search was called off. It was set to resume at 10 a.m. today.
Lt. Scott Howland, a water rescuer for the Sandy Fire District, said large trees can snag even the most experienced kayakers, especially when the river is high.
"We call them 'strainers' because they capture whatever gets too close," Howland said. "A kayaker can get wedged in there, and not get out."
You can reach Stuart Tomlinson at 503-294-5940 or by e-mail at stuarttomlinson@news.oregonian.com.
Victim flipped in a hole just below Taffy Puller and was last seen alive swimming into the Ocean Wave (first drop in the Golf Course). He was one of a party of six, four of whom were attempting the river for the first time. The party did not locate the victim until they were driving back up to the accident site, when they saw his body in rocks on river right. CPR failed to revive him.
The NF was running about 1700 cfs according to the Otter guage.
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Victim's name is Lucas Turner, suspected cause of death blow to the head, wearing a Protec full coverage helmet at the time. Both the tv news and a short blip in the newspaper reported a blow to the right temple and forehead.
The BLM confirmed a sad rumor today that a man drowned on the Owyhee River during last weeks high flows. Apparently the drowning happened at Upset rapid on the Rome to reservoir stretch. The victim was in a drift boat that hit a rock and flipped. He was not wearing a lifejacket, and may have been wearing waders. They are still searching for the body.
A Utah woman who was with Anderson made her way to town late Friday night and reported the accident that killed her companion.
Sheriff Aman said he hired a river outfitter to help his deputies in the recovery effort. With mules carrying packboards, they hiked to a spot along the high desert canyon above the river.
The Bruneau was flowing between 1,100 and 1,200 cfs on May 1st.
Read an Article from the San Fransico CronicleWilliam Brock writes an article in the Times/News that asks Experts and 'experts' to mull over the recent drowning on the Bruneau.
1998 River Fatality Report (For September AW Journal) by Charlie Walbridge
Copyright 1998 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Here is an article from the Oregonian.
Here is some good advice from a group that was on the Illinois River the day before the drownings.
The rapid formally know as the "Play Wave" before the January flood is located about a quarter mile below the Sandy Beach Picnic area. The preferred way to run it is on the left. Balls group entered on the right possibly hitting a rock and flipped. Three passengers were helped to shore but Balls drowned after he was pulled under the surface.
From RBP:
Essentially what happened is that he went over and was flushed into
a big hole. He was wearing a dry top (not a drysuit) with two layers of
polartec 200 fleece. In the hole he blew his duct tape repair job to his
neck gasket. He initially rolled up, but went over nearly immediately.
His next roll attempts brought him to the surface but he couldn't get up
fully due to the flooded top. He wet exited and attempted to swim to shore
but repeatedly got sucked under for extended periods of time. At one point
he was able to get help from another kayak but couldn't hang on due to
the weight of the water. When he finally resurfaced he was pushed to shore
where CPR and resuscitation were attempted for ~45 minutes.
The flow was 7.7' as the group put on at Marsh creek. Apparently a cataraft with a single oarsman flipped in Murph's Hole, 1.2 miles below Boundary Creek. (This is where a sweep boat flipped in 1995) The Oarsman was rescued and two boats headed down stream to recover the gear. The lead cataraft with 2 people on board flipped just above Velvet, both swimming Velvet in life jackets. The Oarsman swam to shore while the passenger could not be rescued and floated on. The body was spotted by an individual on their deck at Pistol who then radioed the Ranger at Indian Creek. The Ranger and a pilot were able to pull the body out just at the end of the Air strip. The flipped cataraft was found around Dolly Lake (a huge eddy) at mile 19 and was in very bad shape. This is where the group spent the night not knowing the fate of their friend. A group of 4 kayakers joined the group at Dolly Lake that night. The victim had all of the correct clothing for a cold water trip, but was in the extremely cold water for 2-3 hours floating to Indian Creek.
Please see these two trip reports submitted by the kayak group on the river 3 hours ahead of the incident and a raft group a couple of hours behind the group of catarafters:
Mike Reisman Drowning on the Ocoee November 1, 1997