Part II - "The River Rescue and The Great James Debate"
“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to."
"I don't much care where –"
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go.”
~Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland~
That quote describes my entire existence until I can find a way back to the life I once had..........which means every new horizon line I see will be bringing new adventures, and new and colorful people. So while I am living this existence that is judged, mocked, and ridiculed by all the haters, I will most likely discover more about this world then any of them could ever hope to throughout their entire lives.........point is, "HATE ON HATERS!"
Any who.............Week Fourteen continued with the same bizarre, yet highly enlightening experiences that it started with. By Tuesday I had already cruised Pipeline at 8+ feet with a six year old (on that note, all James River Outfitters abandon Pipeline over seven and a half feet because it is just "too big". C'mon guys. A six year old did it with a smile on her face the whole time. Give the people what they want.......the ride of their life!...............I know I tried to give them that last summer, and it was four feet. Mother Nature made it easy for you guys this year.) I had also met a ton of new people, had been taken to dinner by a group of beautiful, bikini clad women and a motocross racer with an A Team van, had late night Absinthe hits on The Island with new friends, and run "The Middle Lines Work Out Program" seven times in four days. I had fulfilled an entire weeks worth of adventure into half a week.
Then Tuesday came and things got even wilder. I paddled off the island later in the morning and met a friend for lunch, which involved a pretty intense conversation. After lunch I met with a financial planner. Why a financial planner wanted to meet with a homeless kayaker living on an island I do not know?.....but I went with it. I was happy that I did, because I received some valuable advice and had a bit of reality dropped on my ass...........basically, I'm screwed and need to work my ass off for the next 73 years. Oh well. I finally reached work around 2 pm that afternoon (My boss was so happy with me.....again, sarcasm). We headed up to Brown's Island to finish some work and meet up with a city official about some projects on the island.
“Too many times we stand aside and let the waters slip away, till what we put off till tomorrow has now become today. So don't you sit upon the shoreline and say you're satisfied. Choose to chance the rapids and dare to dance the tide.”
Then Tuesday came and things got even wilder. I paddled off the island later in the morning and met a friend for lunch, which involved a pretty intense conversation. After lunch I met with a financial planner. Why a financial planner wanted to meet with a homeless kayaker living on an island I do not know?.....but I went with it. I was happy that I did, because I received some valuable advice and had a bit of reality dropped on my ass...........basically, I'm screwed and need to work my ass off for the next 73 years. Oh well. I finally reached work around 2 pm that afternoon (My boss was so happy with me.....again, sarcasm). We headed up to Brown's Island to finish some work and meet up with a city official about some projects on the island.
“Too many times we stand aside and let the waters slip away, till what we put off till tomorrow has now become today. So don't you sit upon the shoreline and say you're satisfied. Choose to chance the rapids and dare to dance the tide.”
~Anonymous~
We had only been on Brown's Island for about five minutes before the Fire Department, Police, and River Rescue arrived at the boat ramp and came walking up to us. My boss happens to somehow know every firefighter and cop in the city and had the 'situation assessment' in 30 seconds. They had not located the victims, but said they received a call that there were distressed swimmers somewhere above Pipeline. We headed down to the bottom of the island and started searching the river bank for the problem. My boss had walked ahead of me and located the victims near the entrance to Pipeline rapid. He then turned around and gave me a strange look. I came up on the scene, looked out in the river, and saw Randbo......yes, Randbo (this is what happens when you allow someone to name their own character in a story), a fellow boater, standing on a pile of logs with one female. They were stable, but in a precarious position. The river was about seven and a half feet, and neither were wearing a PFD. The reason the situation was so strange was that we both knew Randbo, and both knew that he was a competent boater. It was one of those situations where things looked different than they really were. A competent boater would never end up in a situation like the one Randbo was in without something strange having happened.
All I could do was look out at Randbo and yell, "What the fuck dude!?!" He just looked back at me and shook his head and told me to get a PFD to him. Unfortunately I knew that with the arrival of the Fire Dept. I was not allowed to be involved in the rescue for liability reasons (plus I didn't have a kayak), so all I could do was sit and watch. Although Randbo.........yes, Randbo, and the victim were safe, they were in a rather unfortunate spot. They were located in the batch of trees that separate the left side entrance to Pipeline from the entrance that takes you towards the tree slot boof. From this position there is swift water on both sides with very small eddies that are few and far between, making rescue difficult. Additionally, the location is at the top of a rapid that is about 300 yards long. It would be a rough swim for someone who was not wearing a PFD and is not accustom to swimming Class III-IV whitewater............actually, it would be a rough swim for ANYONE not wearing a PFD.
The rescue took quite a bit of time and was difficult given the circumstances. The River Rescue Squad used jet boat rafts to push through the current, but at times the force of the water was stronger than the boat. The lack of larger eddies just added to the difficulty. Eventually River Rescue made a successful recovery of both the victim and Rambo.....I mean Randbo. I spoke with him after the rescue was made to get the entire story about the circumstances of the situation. Randbo had been walking his dog on the pipe at Pipeline and had seen three distressed swimmers above Pipeline being swept down into the top of the rapid. He was able to rescue two of the victims himself by swimming them across the channel to the river left shore. He stated that the third victim freaked out a bit when her turn came, so he decided to call river rescue. Rand was correct with everything he did in the situation because he has a decade of experience on the river. If you do not have that amount of experience, then do not ever attempt to save someone in swift water. Call River Rescue or find a kayaker........quick.
Over the last five years, I have been involved with numerous river rescues, both on my own and involving The River Rescue Squad. I have also participated in numerous trainings with the fire department concerning swift water training on The James.........................................anyone who is in our paddling community knows that I am in a tough position right now. How do I write the following constructive criticism bluntly, honestly, and with conviction, (like all other posts), but without upsetting anyone? It is a tough question to answer, but here goes my attempt. I pray this comes across well..................
“It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.”
~George Washington~
The rescue took quite a bit of time and was difficult given the circumstances. The River Rescue Squad used jet boat rafts to push through the current, but at times the force of the water was stronger than the boat. The lack of larger eddies just added to the difficulty. Eventually River Rescue made a successful recovery of both the victim and Rambo.....I mean Randbo. I spoke with him after the rescue was made to get the entire story about the circumstances of the situation. Randbo had been walking his dog on the pipe at Pipeline and had seen three distressed swimmers above Pipeline being swept down into the top of the rapid. He was able to rescue two of the victims himself by swimming them across the channel to the river left shore. He stated that the third victim freaked out a bit when her turn came, so he decided to call river rescue. Rand was correct with everything he did in the situation because he has a decade of experience on the river. If you do not have that amount of experience, then do not ever attempt to save someone in swift water. Call River Rescue or find a kayaker........quick.
Over the last five years, I have been involved with numerous river rescues, both on my own and involving The River Rescue Squad. I have also participated in numerous trainings with the fire department concerning swift water training on The James.........................................anyone who is in our paddling community knows that I am in a tough position right now. How do I write the following constructive criticism bluntly, honestly, and with conviction, (like all other posts), but without upsetting anyone? It is a tough question to answer, but here goes my attempt. I pray this comes across well..................
“It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.”
~George Washington~
The James River is a unique anomaly in the whitewater paddling world. We possess the best urban whitewater anywhere in the United States. This has created two important factors that play into the amount of activity and problems we have on The James. First, we have a large and close culture of boaters in this town. There is A LOT of whitewater skill in RVA, and every year it grows. This creates a lot of knowledge and experience on the rivah. We also have a large paddling population and only one rivah.........this creates waaaaaayyyyy too many cooks in one kitchen, and everyone seems to have their own recipe about how to bake up a solution to the dilemma of River Rescue.
Second, we have created an extremely beautiful and well maintained Park System (Thanks Ralph and Nathan) that draws thousands of people to the banks of our rivah every year, giving the general public direct access to dangerous whitewater........................no offense, but the general public is incredibly stupid. Example #1: Last summer I watched a man take an inflatable pool chair down Hollywood with his eight year old daughter sitting on his lap. No helmets, no PFD's, no common sense. The end result was myself and a fellow boater picking both the man and daughter out of the logs below the main drop, all while the daughter was screaming and clawing into my arm because she was so scared. While I was dealing with that, my fellow paddler was bitching out the father like no other..............and rightfully so I might add. If you do stupid shit you should be made to feel stupid, especially when your stupidity endangers a child.
Example #2: Go to Belle Isle on a busy weekend and watch the crowd. Within half an hour you WILL see someone do something stupid involving the rivah........guaranteed. Additionally, the stupid person is most likely drunk. This will help you understand Example #2....actually this IS Example #2.
Example #2: Go to Belle Isle on a busy weekend and watch the crowd. Within half an hour you WILL see someone do something stupid involving the rivah........guaranteed. Additionally, the stupid person is most likely drunk. This will help you understand Example #2....actually this IS Example #2.
Due to these circumstances, there is a culture clash on The James. You have the general population that uses the rivah for hiking, walking, biking, sun bathing, and swimming. Then you have the paddling community.......the most knowledgeable rivah group in RVA..........finally, you have River Rescue trying to keep all of us safe. Given these circumstances one thing is for sure..........River Rescue is in a tough spot.
If you asked most paddlers about their opinion of River Rescue in RVA it would be negative and critical.......that's fucked up. Before I go on, I will call myself out and say that at times in the past decade I have been very critical of River Rescue. (I am no longer like that, but in all fairness I am about to put myself in the same group this is all going to fall on in this blog.) I now support them 100 percent and think given the circumstances they do a phenomenal job. Here is why:.................
Undated Journal Entry
"................Paddlers who criticize River Rescue should think about this..........Imagine going to the Fire Department and receiving one days worth of training on how to be a firefighter. Then on the day after your training, you are handed a hose by a firefighter and told to go into a burning building and save an entire family. The whole time you are in the burning building, the fire department is going to stand outside, and criticize every move you make...........that is pretty much the equivalent of what we as paddlers do to River Rescue all the time...........THAT"S FUCKED UP!!!!! I don't know about you, but I would not feel comfortable saving people from a burning building with a hose and a prayer........I would be more worried about my own ass. (sorry, I don't like fire.......I like water. I will save you there, but I run from fire...........and bears. Bears will kill you.....actually, that is a joke. Don't run from bears. If you do then bears will kill you.......seriously.)
For this reason I do not blame any Firefighter who is scared shitless when they have to make a river rescue, because I can guarantee I would be scared inside that burning building. (which is why I would probably run) Firefighters have a tough job because they need to have talents in so many different areas."
Based on the situation that I witnessed at Pipeline combined with my past experiences with River Rescue, safety on the James, the knowledge of paddlers, etc., I had one question that continued to resonate in my mind...........................If River Rescue had responded to the scene of "The Dumb Ass on The Log" and been forced to attempt a river rescue in Hollywood at fifteen feet, would they have been successful?..................every paddler in this town already knows the answer to this question...........NO. I need to make it clear that I do not enjoy using honesty and bluntness to answer that question, but it is the truth.
I bring that point up for a reason. Hollywood at Fifteen+ feet is an extremely deadly environment, and as I have stated before , if you are going to paddle The James at that level, you damn well better know what you are doing. River Rescue does not have the experience to make those rescues, but more importantly, based on my observations in the past, there is the possibility one of them could drown during the rescue. If that were to happen, the paddling community should ask this question.......Who would that death fall on? Not the firefighters, they are heroes. Not the city. The don't take responsibility for shit! (ex. Baseball Field....dumb asses).............It would fall on the kayaking community. And if it fell on us we would justify that asshole Curt Autry stating that the rivah should be closed down over twelve feet, but more importantly, we would have a heavy weight to bear as a community, with little or no voice about our home away from (or in my case my home at my home.......or something like that).
"Great leadership does not mean running away from reality. Sometimes the hard truths might just demoralize the company, but at other times sharing difficulties can inspire people to take action that will make the situation better."
~John Kotter~
What can we do about it? Well, we can continue doing what we have been doing and talk about all these great things we can do, and then have a big meeting about it, and then have another meeting with the heads of all the little organizations.....oooh, it could be at Legend's. That would make us really cool. Then we could get the outfitters involved, and then have another meeting about that.(are you starting to get my point........eventually I think they actually did go rafting last summer........right boys?)...................or we can actually identify the people who can "get shit done" and allow them to do the things we all know they are capable of doing (The Fat Bastard of Fourteenth Street does NOT fall under this category). The fact is we as a paddling community will never be as strong as we could be with a rift between ourselves and River Rescue. The situation that I described above is a time bomb ticking. Every year we get better at kayaking, which means every year the risk factor is stepped up a little more. In a previous post I discussed river levels. The James has not seen a 20+ foot flood in 16.7 years. We average one every 5 years (give or take). We are overdue for that 20+ footer, and I know there are plenty of boaters in this town just drooling at the chance to run the Lower at that level................unfortunately a lot of those paddlers are dumb ass college kids encouraged through Team WAV to run shit they are not ready for. (Example #1.....go read "The Dumb Ass on the Log". Team WAV was involved in that debacle.) This is one example of what will lead to this recipe becoming an unfortunate reality.
I don't have the answers to the question of exactly what to do about the situation. That is not my job. My job is to call it out so that hopefully the kayaking community will start talking about it (instead of talking about the crazy dude living on an island........what's with that guy?) Hopefully the people who have the ability to make an impact can come to the table, instead of the ones just looking for the notoriety of being involved. I think the community has already done a good job of exemplifying the results of that path. As far as I am concerned, there is only one person in this town who can link the two groups together............and he is the only one who has actually produced results. Some of you guys should stop running your mouths long enough to see what is actually being accomplished. If everyone were on that page, we wouldn't need to hear about "Dumb Asses on a Log"............now would we?
"Leadership is action, not position."
~Donald H. McGannon
If you asked most paddlers about their opinion of River Rescue in RVA it would be negative and critical.......that's fucked up. Before I go on, I will call myself out and say that at times in the past decade I have been very critical of River Rescue. (I am no longer like that, but in all fairness I am about to put myself in the same group this is all going to fall on in this blog.) I now support them 100 percent and think given the circumstances they do a phenomenal job. Here is why:.................
Undated Journal Entry
"................Paddlers who criticize River Rescue should think about this..........Imagine going to the Fire Department and receiving one days worth of training on how to be a firefighter. Then on the day after your training, you are handed a hose by a firefighter and told to go into a burning building and save an entire family. The whole time you are in the burning building, the fire department is going to stand outside, and criticize every move you make...........that is pretty much the equivalent of what we as paddlers do to River Rescue all the time...........THAT"S FUCKED UP!!!!! I don't know about you, but I would not feel comfortable saving people from a burning building with a hose and a prayer........I would be more worried about my own ass. (sorry, I don't like fire.......I like water. I will save you there, but I run from fire...........and bears. Bears will kill you.....actually, that is a joke. Don't run from bears. If you do then bears will kill you.......seriously.)
For this reason I do not blame any Firefighter who is scared shitless when they have to make a river rescue, because I can guarantee I would be scared inside that burning building. (which is why I would probably run) Firefighters have a tough job because they need to have talents in so many different areas."
Based on the situation that I witnessed at Pipeline combined with my past experiences with River Rescue, safety on the James, the knowledge of paddlers, etc., I had one question that continued to resonate in my mind...........................If River Rescue had responded to the scene of "The Dumb Ass on The Log" and been forced to attempt a river rescue in Hollywood at fifteen feet, would they have been successful?..................every paddler in this town already knows the answer to this question...........NO. I need to make it clear that I do not enjoy using honesty and bluntness to answer that question, but it is the truth.
I bring that point up for a reason. Hollywood at Fifteen+ feet is an extremely deadly environment, and as I have stated before , if you are going to paddle The James at that level, you damn well better know what you are doing. River Rescue does not have the experience to make those rescues, but more importantly, based on my observations in the past, there is the possibility one of them could drown during the rescue. If that were to happen, the paddling community should ask this question.......Who would that death fall on? Not the firefighters, they are heroes. Not the city. The don't take responsibility for shit! (ex. Baseball Field....dumb asses).............It would fall on the kayaking community. And if it fell on us we would justify that asshole Curt Autry stating that the rivah should be closed down over twelve feet, but more importantly, we would have a heavy weight to bear as a community, with little or no voice about our home away from (or in my case my home at my home.......or something like that).
"Great leadership does not mean running away from reality. Sometimes the hard truths might just demoralize the company, but at other times sharing difficulties can inspire people to take action that will make the situation better."
~John Kotter~
I don't have the answers to the question of exactly what to do about the situation. That is not my job. My job is to call it out so that hopefully the kayaking community will start talking about it (instead of talking about the crazy dude living on an island........what's with that guy?) Hopefully the people who have the ability to make an impact can come to the table, instead of the ones just looking for the notoriety of being involved. I think the community has already done a good job of exemplifying the results of that path. As far as I am concerned, there is only one person in this town who can link the two groups together............and he is the only one who has actually produced results. Some of you guys should stop running your mouths long enough to see what is actually being accomplished. If everyone were on that page, we wouldn't need to hear about "Dumb Asses on a Log"............now would we?
"Leadership is action, not position."
~Donald H. McGannon
Pray For Rain. See ya on the rivah................hopefully not on a log. (sorry, I couldn't help it)
