Author Topic: What's it like when you're off your board in the Gorge?  (Read 11738 times)

headmount

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What's it like when you're off your board in the Gorge?
« on: September 01, 2015, 09:08:43 PM »
In the wake of this recent loss of a paddler at the Gorge, I was wondering what it's like being down in the water even a little ways from your board, even connected by a leash.  I've only windsurfed there and know that the whole wndsurf rig presents an easily spotted mark on the water.   But a paddle board is less and a human head even less so.  I tried to wrap my head around the kid in the water with his board drifting away.  He was young and strong how could things go south?   But after talking to Covesurfer, who was on the river that day, and returned to Maui, he reported that the water was very busy.  What naturally occurred to me was that he got hit by someone who didn't even see him.  In that rough a water how could you see just a head, barely above the surface? 

yugi

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Re: What's it like when you're off your board in the Gorge?
« Reply #1 on: September 01, 2015, 10:45:56 PM »
The first surprise for a person who lives by the ocean is how much less buoyant one is in fresh water. It's always a surprise, even if you knew it.

covesurfer

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Re: What's it like when you're off your board in the Gorge?
« Reply #2 on: September 02, 2015, 01:11:21 AM »
A lot of guys paddle through the highest traffic areas near Swell City and the Hatchery because that's the area with some of the biggest, most fun swells in 'the corridor' (the area between Home Valley and HR). For me, it's too much like playing 'Frogger', where I'm the frog. I don't enjoy having boards coming at me from several directions at 25 mph. On a day with large swell, it's just too hairy, and that is without falling in.

Even if you avoid Swell and the Hatch, you still are probably coming in at the Event Site. That's also a shit show when it's windy with people screaming inside to do a showboat jibe near shore and beginners waterstarting and not even looking where they're going since a successful waterstart seems to almost shock them into a near catatonic state. Most sailors seem clueless about paddlers and I've had many close calls while I'm standing up, in control and paddling. I would not want to fall there.

I don't mean this to sound morbid or disrespectful in any way but there are some very odd things about Andres' death and the aftermath. He was found in almost the exact spot where he fell off his board. With an absolutely relentless current, how does someone stay in the same location for nearly a week? That is extremely odd. Unless he drowned and sank to the bottom and was trapped there and finally released. It seems very strange however.

Apparently, a number of people saw him fall in and had eyes on him before he went under. According to the report in the HR News, the GoPro on his board showed him swimming for around a minute after falling in. That is actually quite a bit of time to be in the picture frame if you think about it. The board would be blowing upstream while the paddler would be being taken away from the board, downstream, by the current.

From what I've been reading, he was not in the midst of the sailing frenzy at Swell or the Hatch. He apparently was upwind from that area and more towards the center of the river. On Friday, when he disappeared, I paddled that area twice. Swells were smooth and super ridable, with what I'd estimate as four to maybe six foot faces. Most were probably more like four to five foot faces. It wasn't huge, just a fun sized Gorge downwind day. Why would a seemingly healthy, young guy, with plenty of water experience, only be able to swim for a minute or so before going under and disappearing? I find that extremely disturbing. But, I read in the HR News that the sheriff's office considers the case over. Surely someone must be wondering why a young, athletic waterman would drown in a couple of minutes? I hope some of the mystery gets cleared up at some point. If we had more answers, it might make other river users a little bit more aware and safer going forward.

yugi

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Re: What's it like when you're off your board in the Gorge?
« Reply #3 on: September 02, 2015, 03:53:03 AM »
If I'm kiting in a high traffic area I wear a white helmut. I chose white specifically to be more visible when down in the water.

Off-Shore

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Re: What's it like when you're off your board in the Gorge?
« Reply #4 on: September 02, 2015, 07:21:27 AM »
DayGlo DayGlo DayGlo. Whe I first started downwinding with a waterman friend, a long time windsurfer and surfskier he'd always chastise me for not wearing bright colours. When I started taking others out downwinding I realised why. If you fall off in dark clothes or a wetsuit and are separated from your board there is very little chance of tracking you more than a few seconds in downwind conditions. Wear a DayGlo or fluorescent top over your wetsuit. Better still add a DayGlo or fluorescent cap or hat or helmet to the DayGlo top. NOT white. White in white water disappears. Better to have DayGlo yellow or orange. I'm a convert because I've scared myself witless temporarily losing people when they wipe out in downwind runs, even with a board attached. Simple stuff but super effective.
« Last Edit: September 02, 2015, 07:23:22 AM by Off-Shore »
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PonoBill

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Re: What's it like when you're off your board in the Gorge?
« Reply #5 on: September 02, 2015, 07:44:42 AM »
People make fun of my orange fluorescent hat, but I can find it, and on a gourd the size of mine if anyone hits it, it's intentional.

It's not really surprising that he only swam for a minute. People panic and go into the drowning reflex, which is not really swimming. It's certainly possible to get run over where he was, but people had eyes on him, and then there's his video camera. From what I hear, he went down with the camera still on him.

I don't think there's all that much mystery. He sank to the bottom and got hung up. Or just spun around in the eddy--he went down in the big eddy just below swell. the surface currents are different from the bottom currents, nothing simple out there. The Sheriff and the Tribal Police don't seem to be the least bit surprised. They've seen it all before.

As for what it's like, I'm always a little surprised how deep I go and how slow I come up when I fall here. The buoyancy difference is substantial. You have to swim to the surface, you don't necessarily float up. And the wind is wicked. Like a Southside run. On a Maliko the wind at the water surface gets partly blocked by the big swells, so the boards don't blow around. In the Gorge the swells are more like divots, and there's often spindrift on the surface as the wavetops get blown off. I've never lost a board here, but I suspect it would be gone in seconds. They hit the end of the leash all the time and have to be reeled back. For that matter I've had them blow over my head more than a few times.
« Last Edit: September 02, 2015, 07:49:03 AM by PonoBill »
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

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Re: What's it like when you're off your board in the Gorge?
« Reply #6 on: September 02, 2015, 08:14:42 AM »
This fatality is almost the exception that proves the rule.  Considering how many people are using the Gorge's water for SUP, Kiting, Sailing, Windsurfing, Fishing, Swimming, Wakeboarding, Wakesurfing, etc the death rate is extraordinarily low.

I could not guess how many gorge sessions have been logged this summer alone.

Some other activities on their own:

Base Jumping - 1 death in every 2,317 jumps
Skydiving - 1 death in every 101,083 jumps
Scuba Diving - 1 death in every 200,000 dives
Rock Climbing - 1 death in every 320,000 climbs
Canoeing - 1 death in every 1,235,000 outings
Kayaking (all types) - 1 death in every 1,585,714 outings
Skiing - 1 death in every 1,556,757 visits

For what its worth the ACA noted that, "In 2012, stand up paddlers made 9.6 million annual outings."  in that same year they noted 7 fatalities.  I get 1 death in every 1,371,428 outings.  They excluded motorized accidents but this includes the deaths expected to involve heart attack, seizure, etc. (I used the ACA's participation/fatalities #'s for 2012 for Canoe and Kayaking above.  The rest come from the article below).

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/active/11612292/BASE-jumping-the-life-or-death-appeal-of-the-worlds-most-dangerous-sport.html
« Last Edit: September 02, 2015, 09:07:03 AM by Admin »

PonoBill

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Re: What's it like when you're off your board in the Gorge?
« Reply #7 on: September 02, 2015, 08:21:42 AM »
It's surprising, really. Our sport seems dangerous, and so does windsurfing and kiting. Boating and fishing, not so much. But it apparently isn't.
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

pdxmike

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Re: What's it like when you're off your board in the Gorge?
« Reply #8 on: September 02, 2015, 12:47:38 PM »
I can't say how visible someone in the water is, except to repeat what people have said before about the Gorge--that you often can't see your nearby paddling buddies even when you're all standing up.  But I've fallen dozens of times on a single downwinder, plus have done some open water swimming a couple miles out from land in Puget Sound, so have spent a lot of time IN the water.  A lot of the time, you can't see anything but water, because waves/chop/swell cuts off your view when your eyeballs are 6" above the surface. 

It could be something that would make someone panic if they weren't used to it, even if they were a good swimmer.  If you add that the water could have been smashing over his head over and over, the realization he wasn't going to ever get to his board, possible surprise about not feeling buoyant in fresh water (I never would have thought of that one myself, yugi, but now seems obvious), maybe having the water be colder than what he was used to, swimming hard for a minute and using a ton of energy while maybe getting nowhere...Not all these may apply, but just two or three could cause some panic.

I wonder if anyone knows objectively how well he could swim.  Even a "strong swimmer" could panic after several almost-instant surprises/setbacks like he may have had.  Many people might say anyone who could swim in the Gorge for a minute is a strong swimmer.  On the other hand, someone who was not a great swimmer, but used to falling in the Gorge, might do fine because they'd have no panic.
« Last Edit: September 02, 2015, 12:49:51 PM by pdxmike »

Eagle

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Re: What's it like when you're off your board in the Gorge?
« Reply #9 on: September 02, 2015, 01:33:18 PM »
Most would probably panic if faced with no board and no PFD in windswept DW conditions.  We always think about that round here since hypothermia should trump strong swimming skills in our rough conditions.

We recently had a man and young daughter perish up in Howe Sound -> and they were in a boat in calm waters that day.  Was some speculation they were swimming with photos taken on his phone -> Dad was never found.  We do get pretty strong ocean currents from time to time and a boat can quickly float away from you.

"About 400 Canadians drown each year, with children aged one to four and men 15 to 44 at the greatest risk, according to the Red Cross."

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/b-c-mystery-six-year-old-dead-father-still-missing-but-searchers-puzzled-about-why-boat-was-abandoned

"About 600 people in the U.S. die of hypothermia each year."

http://www.seagrant.umn.edu/coastal_communities/hypothermia

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coldsup

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Re: What's it like when you're off your board in the Gorge?
« Reply #10 on: September 02, 2015, 01:52:39 PM »
Just out of interest....anyone on here suffered cold shock before in water? Two nights ago after coming in after a choppy paddle I came off my board into the water in a 2 mm wettie and found myself with a blocked throat for over 30 secs....seems I suffered a laryngospasm triggered by the water and also because I have some throat cough thing going on.

So glad I got back on the board immediately within a couple of secs .....having that go on in the water would not be good....150 yards out and on my own. Was kind of scary! Just shows how things can happen fast and you can be very unlucky.

Eagle

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Re: What's it like when you're off your board in the Gorge?
« Reply #11 on: September 02, 2015, 02:14:09 PM »
Especially up in Squamish we do everything we can to stay out of the cold glacier water.  In the warm summer we normally are in just board-shorts and rash guard.  This is precisely where a stable board like a Bullet or M-14 helps immensely.  A dry run is a fun run.  Narrow flat rocker race boards are far beyond our pay grade in 30 kt gusts.    ;)

"In humans, cold shock response is perhaps the most common cause of death from immersion in very cold water,[1] such as by falling through thin ice. The immediate shock of the cold causes involuntary inhalation, which if underwater can result in drowning. The cold water can also cause heart attack due to vasoconstriction;[2]"

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_shock_response

"During the first several minutes of cold shock, and possibly for much longer, most people find it impossible to get their breathing under control. Breathing problems include gasping, hyperventilation, difficulty holding your breath, and a scary feeling of breathlessness or suffocation."

http://www.coldwatersafety.org/ColdShock.html
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Chan

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Re: What's it like when you're off your board in the Gorge?
« Reply #12 on: September 02, 2015, 02:50:29 PM »
The water has been in the 70's since early July in the Gorge.  With no immediate risk of hypothermia, my biggest concern is damaged and abandoned nets.  Stationary nets are visible and thus easier to avoid then free nets.  A free net could be present at any depth.  If caught in a free net, when moving against the current (downwind usually) a swimmer could become entangled and lose mobility leaving few self rescue options.  I posted some info on this in a previous thread:

Here is a photo of a stationary net in the gorge:


headmount

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Re: What's it like when you're off your board in the Gorge?
« Reply #13 on: September 02, 2015, 04:17:45 PM »
Wow Chan.  Caught in a net?  How scary is that.  And a little bizarre as well being a human in a net.  Guys get their props fouled out here in the ocean so I can dig what you're saying.  Sounds like some twilight zone tale. 

So the answer is to have a knife strapped to your ankle?

covesurfer

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Re: What's it like when you're off your board in the Gorge?
« Reply #14 on: September 02, 2015, 05:05:10 PM »
Yep, a knife is not a bad thing to have available, but you need immediate access to it. If you were ever to get tangled in someone's kite lines or, perhaps more likely, a gill net, it could save your life. There are a lot of gill nets in the Columbia and I've come close to getting snagged in one a couple of times over the years.

Once again, we can learn a lot from Kenny Powers. He's pretty much my surfing hero. Always prepared.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ig1ytto6rNg

 


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