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megspk
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  Quote megspk Replybullet Topic: Communication tools
    Posted: 23 Aug 2016 at 11:49am
So after an exciting weekend I've got some questions about communication on the river and suggestions of tools that people find useful.

This weekend we ended up in a rescue situation at Steelhead Falls on the lower section of the White Salmon. This section is canyoned up and we could not see our downstream crew (there were 16 kayakers total).

Half the group including the only person who had ran the run multiple times was in the first half of the group.
The second, upstream half, saw the carnage and bagged two adults out (this took some effort and time). A young woman and child ended up getting washed downstream after getting released from the hole. One of our kayakers swam after the child.

At this point now we are in two separated groups with no visual of each other. We cannot hear any whistles coming from the downstream team. We stayed put.

After awhile a cell phone connection was made and we found out the two people that were washed downstream were rescued from the river. We think the raft is there, but there was no confirmation of that on the phone call (reception was really bad). So we decide to swim the adults down to the next rapid because we now know the downstream crew is just around the corner. (No one on the raft had helmets or neoprene on) and there wasn't an obvious way for two unprepared people to hike from that spot.

When we get around the corner the raft is gone. But we know there's a trail from the spot we are at, so we send the two adults hiking. A random kayaker (not with our crew and I'm uncertain he was with the raft?) took the child and other adult downstream (the kid was hypothermic and falling asleep).

What would you guys do in this situation? We are extremely lucky we got a cell phone connection, but that's unlikely to have where people normally kayak. I typically never paddle with my phone, but I'm considering having it on me on all trips from now on.

Has anyone trialed or used waterproof walkie talkies? Does anyone have experience with Bluetooth technologies that connect cell phones in places you don't have service as long as you have the Bluetooth device (Bear claw or something like that?). How well do they actually work?

Had we not gotten the cell phone access we did, I'm not sure what would have happened. We were extremely lucky in that aspect.

Any suggestions or experiences that you can share?

We are fortunate our team didn't stray far and were able to help the child and woman out of the water. Props to everyone out there that bagged people, assisted them downstream, and made a bad situation end with a positive result!! I'd paddle with ya'll anytime!
“A strong person and a waterfall always channel their own path.” -Unknown

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Estel
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  Quote Estel Replybullet Posted: 23 Aug 2016 at 1:59pm
Bluetooth won't be of any use for kayaking. It has a very short range, something like 10 to 30 feet. Whistles have a longer range and are more reliable.
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megspk
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  Quote megspk Replybullet Posted: 23 Aug 2016 at 2:21pm
https://www.beartooth.com/

Has anyone used this or seen something similar? It states the Bluetooth can communicate up to 10 miles....
“A strong person and a waterfall always channel their own path.” -Unknown

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superposer
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  Quote superposer Replybullet Posted: 23 Aug 2016 at 8:13pm
that was an extremely fortunate ending to a sh*tty situation. As part of the bottom crew and rescuing little elle she ultimately was the one going to make it out alive cuz she was six and had no choice in the matter.

Hindsight is 20/20, i think acting as two individual groups was ultimately what had to be made and what happened. The guy who took the raft and the other female and elle ultimately made the call and i believe was the right call. If anyone was coming out of that scenario alive in my opinion it was a six year old.

It was stressful but at the end of the day every made it home alright. The parents are ultimately responsible for their own mile plus swim to safety on our kayaks.
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water wacko
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  Quote water wacko Replybullet Posted: 23 Aug 2016 at 10:07pm
Rule #1: keep it simple. Technology has a way of not being ideal in real situations more often than not. Rely on a competent team, visual contact w/ simple hand signals familiar to your team, and simple systems/gear so things can progress quickly. In this situation, when a big group splits, deal with what you have, rather than trying to figure out the unknowns. Sounds like things worked out okay and that's usually how it goes when things happen. Sometimes not though, and that's part of the learning curve.

Remember the goal of the scene: to get everyone out of the canyon safely. There are usually options; hiking/climbing out, paddling out, swimming? sometimes, raft assist. Sometimes it takes thinking outside the box and affecting results in a timely manner. If it were winter, or raining, time would've been a much larger factor. Great work everyone. Rescue classes are always useful, even if you've taken one already. Refreshers are usually less than full price and more often than not worth every penny.

There are questions needing answers and the "what if" is big since the "rescue box" is big and two of the victims and multiple rescuers went downstream. Take care of the victims you have and do the best you can. It'll become less scary the more time you're out there. sh*t happens. You'll deal with it, learn from it, and talk more about it. Take a class. It will benefit everyone you're around.
"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive." ~Howard Thurman
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paddlemonster
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  Quote paddlemonster Replybullet Posted: 24 Aug 2016 at 12:26pm
Have you heard of an app called Firechat? I've been wanting to test this for situations such as this. Downside is that both people would need this on their phone, but all it takes it two to be able to communicate well.
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peteg
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  Quote peteg Replybullet Posted: 24 Aug 2016 at 9:19pm
This sounds extremely messed up. Who takes a 6 year old down that section and misses the portage line? Good lord.

As for communication I would've probably sent a kayak or kayaks eddy-hopping downriver with the idea of maintaining sight lines or at least whistle lines to indicate if the raft was there or what the plan was. Cell phones are not reliable enough, IMHO, to be used in a rescue situation, particularly when time is important.

Either that or several people hiking downstream to do the same sight lines/whistle contact.

Was there no other rafting traffic on the river that day? It all seems weird to me.
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superposer
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  Quote superposer Replybullet Posted: 25 Aug 2016 at 6:47am
Originally posted by peteg

This sounds extremely messed up. Who takes a 6 year old down that section and misses the portage line? Good lord.As for communication I would've probably sent a kayak or kayaks eddy-hopping downriver with the idea of maintaining sight lines or at least whistle lines to indicate if the raft was there or what the plan was. Cell phones are not reliable enough, IMHO, to be used in a rescue situation, particularly when time is important.Either that or several people hiking downstream to do the same sight lines/whistle contact.Was there no other rafting traffic on the river that day? It all seems weird to me.



Pete,
If i had to guess it was about 6 when the whole ordeal went down. In the canyon it was much darker and cooler. As a parent myself I was pretty pissed.

The little girl was the most calm and collected out of the group and listened to virtually everything we said.
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  Quote megspk Replybullet Posted: 25 Aug 2016 at 10:43am
I'm not really sure how the kid ended up on that trip or how those people ended up out there. The impression that I got was that they rented the gear. None of them had helmets or wetsuits/drysuits on. They all had lifejackets.

I think they missed the eddy and went over the drop despite signals from the kayaker that was still in the water (not part of our group and I'm not sure he was even part of theirs....that part wasn't clear to me). Our crew was still on river left portaging and there was at least 5 or 6 of us visible when they went over the falls.

I like your idea of staggering boats down and using whistles or hand signals to communicate back upstream. That would have been beneficial in this situation. Our lower crew was just around the next bend.

We were on the Lower section of the White Salmon and took out at the Columbia. We seemed to be the only crew out there beside the raft that was behind us and the other kayaker. I think we ended up getting off the river by 7:30-45pm.

It was really strange to see that raft. One minute I'm cheering on a friend who just nailed a roll after several tries and I turn around to see a raft go over Steelhead and witness 4 people swirling around at the base, only to realize one of them was VERY tiny! I'm so glad Evan saw her and grabbed her out of the river.

Edited by megspk - 25 Aug 2016 at 3:09pm
“A strong person and a waterfall always channel their own path.” -Unknown

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NateW
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  Quote NateW Replybullet Posted: 25 Aug 2016 at 7:16pm
You had a really large crew which can make everyone really hard to keep track of. Something to consider if you're on a piece of water that people aren't familiar with.

I can't really think of a situation where phones/radios/etc are going to be very useful. A lot of the time they'll be hard to hear. Would you plan on handing them out prior to boating? Would you expect others to own the same sort of device? Ideally you stick together and if you do split up you try to make a plan before you do.

Nice work on the rescue!
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