This video was taken at Campground Rapids on Eagle River, AK. While teaching a Rescue 3 International WRT class for packrafters I decided that I had the ability to remove a hazard and at the same time test the new NRS knife that I purchased. I had no obligation to this rope as it was not from me or anyone in my class. I believe some kayakers had already removed part of this rope in a similar fashion, so I thought I would try to take it a bit further. This video does not represent any training technique taught in class, but there were upstream spotters and downstream safety, as well as two chase boaters in pack rafts (thank you Gerard for catching my paddle and thank you Todd for managing to catch the river right eddy to provide additional back up). I'm not too convinced that the NRS knife performed as well as it should have.

Scott Solle - Rescue 3 Swiftwater Rescue Instructor

RAFT PINS AREN'T ALWAYS STRAIGHT FORWARD!

Just ask Mike Peacock. Sometimes the biggest problem will be accessing the raft. In this video a second raft is pinned to access another pinned raft underneath a small water fall and next to a deadly undercut in Bull Sluice Rapids on the Chattooga River. Although several D-rings were blown attempting to free the second raft, the fact that the originally pinned raft was even accessible is unbelievable. Way to go Mike.

What would I have done differently? I don't know since the video doesn't show all the other factors in a situation and I wasn't there. I doubt that I would have even been able to access the originally pinned boat, nor had the idea to try and park a raft in the middle of the rapid. So I probably would have been stuck until the boat decided to try and wiggle free with enough time which is something you don't have on a commercially run trip with schedules to keep. We can look at this situation to try an learn what we can. It isn't often that we capture such rare moments on film. So here are some things to think about:

1. I like the idea of using a rope across the pin site to help keep the swimmer's rope out of the water... drag on the rope (even 5mm) can be powerful!

2. I like the fact that the idea worked and that everybody came out of this situation unharmed... manual mindedness and dogmatism has no place on the river. New tricks are usually invented and then written about in rescue books because someone thought of something new in the midst of a situation and then the idea actually worked.

3. I like how an elaborate rope rigging system wasn't needed. The 10 boy scout pull method is used more often than a z-drag or other form of mechanical advantage. As always... KISS first! (Keep It Simple Stupid). The originally pinned boat came out with a few people tugging on the rope and the second boat came out with a combination of pulling and getting a paddle in the river to have the current help "pull."

Job well done, you have shown everyone a great deal!

Can I look for improvement? It should be a rhetorical question since I have always believed that everyone can improve. I also believe that think they know too much will have the river jump out and teach them the most... myself included! (Thank you Joe... Middle Fork River Expeditions, June 2nd, 2009 and Thank you Titus! I know you didn't want to see your drybag underwater any longer than it had to be, and thank you Jonny... YOU ARE: Jonny-on-the-spot!!!). So let's look this pin and see what other techniques could have been used because the more tools we have in our toolbox, the better we can find solutions the never ending question of: What if?

1. The raft parked in the middle of the rapid was full of water by the time it needed to be extricated. This means it was heavy. Any time water can be dumped from the raft while pulling on it will reduce the weight. So consider options of lifting the back end of the raft by hand or rope system (or by hand and rope system) while continuing a pull from the front end.

2. There was a rope attached to the raft and a simple 10 boysout pull from shore was initiated. Several D-Rings were blown in the process (Those are the things snapping real fast and changing the ropes angle of attachment). A self adjusting anchor system can be made using only a second throwbag and 1 carabineer. Slip the end of the throwbag rope throw each d-ring, pull a bight of the rope from between each d-ring and clip each bight into a carabineer, tie a Directional-8 pointing towards the pinned raft near the opposite end of the rope (very close to where the bag should be on the rope), and then complete the knot with a Follow-Through-Directional-8 (illustrated drawings soon to be attached here). The basic Idea is to pull with about equal force on each anchor about equally. In addition we hope that the outside angle is less than 90 degrees to reduce vector forces. Many times our original interpretation of where it pull from is close, but then we need to re-adjust our direction of pull due to original miscalculation or because we have pulled the raft into the current and changed where we are pulling from. Without self adjusting anchors we will overload single points and continue to overload additional D-rings. Within this video we see Mike Peacock look at where the originally pinned boat was being pulled from and applied a vector pull to change the direction of pull and potentially exert a small vector force to the pinned raft (especially if the end of the rope was taunt and anchored to a rock or tree).

Again I would add that I was not there, and therefore don't know all the facts and probabilities. I hope we can continue to capture rare moments like this one and then continue to ask ourselves "what if?" The more of us out there asking "what if," then the more of us out there having ideas to those questions and then having a second idea to that question, and possibly a third...

Scott Solle - Rescue 3 Swiftwater Rescue Instructor

WAS THERE ANY COMMUNICATION TO PADDLERS UPSTREAM TO PREVENT KAYAKERS FROM DROPPING ON TOP OF THE VICTIM TO ADD INJURY TO INSULT?

This video is a great example of how we can find lowhead dams in nature and that the rescue operation for a lowhead dam is important to know for recreational river runners. We watch one kayaker nearly drown and then watch several others nearly become victims themselves. What options are there? Again, I wasn't there, but I can think of some options for rescue. A reach rescue with a paddle, a throw rescue from river right, and higher risk option of a live bait swim. Would it have been possible to tether the back of a kayak, similar to a 2 Point Tether, to prevent it from being involved in the hydraulic? It all looks like it happened so fast, which is how it always seems. Rope work takes time that you probably don't have until it is a body recovery. Prevention is the key. Possitioning of rescuers before running drops with chase boats in position can reduce risk and increase rescue success, but to quote a phrase from the movie HEAD'S UP, " The best rescues are the ones that never happen, if you don't self rescue, or the river doesn't do it for you in a matter of moments, then you are at the very bottom of the percentages of people who survive."

Scott Solle - Rescue 3 Swiftwater Rescue Instructor