The man with a can of spam Dan, has been on the prowl again and has asked me to publish his latest.

River safety and rescue

Written by Dan Toward

The reason I decided to write this, is because I am shocked at the lack of safety cover which I have witnessed between various groups on recent trips out boating.

Before I start, this is only my opinion and my personal thoughts on safety and rescue, and is not the gospel of what to do and what to carry. If anybody gains any experience from this write up, then that’s got to be a good thing.

I feel in general that people are pushing there personal boating to a higher level at present, I feel that this is due to the more fashionable creek boating scene. As you push your limit the risks increase. Your thoughts on safety and rescue should be geared up to your grade. Believe me its not nice seeing someone disappear behind a closed in waterfall for more than 5 minutes.

My thoughts on Kit

Buoyancy Aid - Personally I prefer to always wear a harness buoyancy aid when out running rivers regardless of the grade, I also opt to use a cow tail with the harness, I know there is a big debate over cow tail or No cow tail, I can see advantages and disadvantage for both sides. But believe the cows tail is your LIFE LINE

If you are in a situation, where you need a line attached to you , your karabiner is to hand

Try clipping a line to the back of your harness when swimming in water or pinned in a boat!!

In a life threatening situation, time is of critical importance, having a karabiner to hand on a cow tail, reduces time dramatically.

I think people assume a harness is just for rescuing - not been rescued.

Throw lines - I prefer to carry one line. I use the 20 metre HF spectra line. It’s a good all round rope that can also be used for hauling and climbing techniques. Due to the strong inner spectra core. Expensive but highly recommended.

I know some paddlers prefer to carry 2 lines, I can see advantages to this, but feel that if everyone in the group has a line, than this is more than adequate to cover most scenarios.

Waste mounted throw lines. - I liked the idea of always having the line there, tried it but didn’t get on with it - found it to obstructive. Just get in to the habit of getting your line each time you get out of your boat.

Slings- I prefer to carry a longer but slimmer diameter sling great for anchors around bigger trees, lowering boats etc.

This size sling also doubles up as a sit harness for getting in and out of steep/vertical banks.

Ask Glyn about the gorge on Ingelton waterfall run!!!!!!

Knifes- everyone knows the saying if you carry a rope carry a knife, at present I carry a small serrated folding knife which is kept in my front pocket of my B.A

But I’m considering going back to carrying a knife in a sheath attached to my B.A

Old school or what!! Just going back to time factor do you really want to be undoing a zip fumbling around in a pocket to get your knife out to cut a line.

Again this is just my opinion. But would appreciate peoples feed back on this topic

Karabiners- I carry the following

1 screw gate; on cows tail

1 large snap gate; on sling in pocket

1 extra screw gate; kept on throw line------------remove when throwing

1 extra snap gate; in pocket

Prussic-I carry one fairly long prussic which doubles up as a small sling-

Main uses are for setting hauling systems to retrieve pinned boats.

I also regally use a prussic to attach myself to a anchor line when on safety, we used this method frequently in Norway this year. As a lot of the banks where really smooth and slippery which meant you could prussic down your anchor line to a position you wanted, with out the risk of sliding into the river on your arse. Also when coming back up the bank if you slipped then the prussic would simply lock and stop you sliding any further,

If you are not familiar with the prussic then I would seriously advice you to looking in to using them as there uses are endless and they only cost a few quid.

Pulleys- not an necessity but greatly reduce friction on hauling systems there are a few types available but just boils\ down to personal preference and budget.

First aid kit- one per small group should be fine.

All the above pieces of equipment are only going to work if you know how to use them if in doubt book on to a safety and rescue course.

Out on the river

In my opinion there are 2 sorts of rescue on a river, I call these protected and none protected.

None protected, this is when something just happens. You know the times when you are franticly trying to get your rope out of your boat then running to the victim I think this is one of the worst situations as it boils back down to the crucial time factor. But things will just happen this way, you just have to deal with them calmly with good team work, co-ordination and most importantly not putting yourself in danger

Protected, to me this is usually a harder rapid that our group has scouted and assess the risks. We shall then set safety cover up for the main hazard or what is most likely to go wrong. Only experience of white water can tell you this.

The safety cover may be a simple throw rope/live bait or a chase boater.

In these circumstances if your safety set up is right and something goes wrong you should be able to deal with the situation swiftly.

Over the next few months Jack and I shall gather photos of different safety set ups and try and explain why we did it that way etc……

Again this is no safety and rescue guide it’s only my thoughts. My main aim of this feature is to make everybody more aware of safety issues, which may save some ones life one day.

I would strongly recommend anyone going on a safety and rescue course to gain professional experience

Hope this gets you thinking about safety out on the river.

Cheers

Dan Toward

Comments (5)

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written by ned, October 07, 2008

with you on the kit front, spectra line, harness and long sling are must have items. I go with an accesible knife now (since the crake accident). I also carry a small pocket line but have not yet used it in anger
I admit though to be not being 100% reliable on setting safety properly. Safety is in psychology sometimes and I get scared waiting!! Also i sometimes watch groups being too slow and creating issues with cold/stiffness

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written by Ianw, October 16, 2008

I agree with most of the points but a couple of comments would be:
The prussik system is good but be very careful that (depending on what knot you use) the prussik can loosen off if not loaded all the time, I have seen a quite nasty accident in climbing when someone thought their prussik was going to hold them but it did not grip because it had loosened off. If you are happy when you are in the position then a simple back up knot would be advisable.
Also in one picture it would seem that the rope you are tied too is also the throw line you are throwing. This might be ok in certain situations but in general the clean rope principle should be applied i.e no knots etc in the rope, so if you wanted to release it you can. Look forward to further articles.

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written by jack, October 16, 2008

cheers fot the comments so far keep them coming, just following the previous comment throwlines were totally seperate to all anchor lines in the photos. Clean lines are also a big must.

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written by TJ, November 27, 2008

I hope the last photo is a posed one or there'll be no point in taking anything you say seriously, looks pretty dreadful to me.

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written by J, November 27, 2008

which part is dreadful? The drop, yep fairly hard into a tight hole. The rope, didn't need all of it so pulled some out the bag to save doing so once thrown. bit untidy on floor but hey real life. The throw, don't always need underarm, overarm can be useful fast and accurate.

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