Whitewater Accidents Reported to AW January - July 15, 2011

Editor’s Note: This is a sobering report from Charlie Walbridge, coauthor of The Whitewater Rescue Manual and American Whitewater’s Accident Database Manager. Not all fatalities get reported to American Whitewater. You can help by using their Accident Reporting Form to pass along any information you have.

Please do your part to spread the safe boating message.

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Below is a table summarizing the fatal whitewater accidents reported so far this year. The high water has taken a serious toll: 53 people in 47 incidents. This exceeds the previous total for the entire year! The numbers by boat: kayaks 13, canoes 9, inflatables - 16 private and 8 commercial, 5 “other craft” (this category includes everything from drift boats to inner tubes and air mattresses).

Accident causes include: 17 flush drownings, 16 PFDs not worn or fell off, 7 strainer pins and 7 low-head dams. Over 90% of accidents are tied to high flows. Although the kayak numbers are in line with previous years, canoe and rafting numbers are up sharply. These boats are often paddled by inexperienced people who are least able to manage high water.

The geographical distribution of accidents in the United States was 27 in the western region and 20 in the eastern and midwest regions. Idaho leads the state totals with 5, followed by California with 4 and Colorado with 3. Many other states are tied with 2. By age, 10 victims were under 21 years of age and 11 over 60.

There were five serious back injuries from waterfall runs this year. This is way beyond the usual number. It seems that almost everyone who runs big waterfalls regularly will be hurt eventually. Several evacuations were complicated and costly and park managers are not happy.

My thanks to those who have sent in reports and leads. Please send corrections and reports to: Charlie Walbridge, ccwalbridge@cs.com.

Whitewater Accidents Reported to American Whitewater Jan – July 15, 2011
No.	Date	State	Name	Age	Boat	River	Section/Location	Class	Cause
			Don’t add your name to this list!
50	07-16	WV	Judy Brown	?	Comm Raft	New River	Lower; Upper Railroad Rapid	III	Foot Entrapment
49	07-12	CA	Daniele Tira	30	Kayak	Dinkey Creek		V	Swam into sieve
48	07-11	TN	Dick Chijiok	34	Tube	Little River	The 'Y'	I	No PFD
47	07-09	PA	Michael Smith	47	Canoe?	Susquehanna R.		?	Strainer
46	07-07	WY	Jim Sawyer	77	Comm Raft	Snake River	Alpine Canyon	IV	Flush Drowning
45	07-05	MT	Maccine Viola Smith	70	Raft	Blackfoot River	Scotty Brown Br. to Johnsrud Pk	IV	Flush Drowning
44	07-04	WA	Lyvben Gankova	47	IK	Cle Elum River		?	No PFD
43	07-03	WA	Sharon Hughes	69	Comm Raft	Wenatchee River	Leavenworth to Monitor	III	Strainer
42	07-03	CO	Kevin Bair	26	Kayak	South Mineral Cr.	Above S. Mineral CG	V	Entrapment
41	07-02	WY	Unidentified Boy	4	Canoe	Green River	Green River Lakes to Tepee Creek	?	Overloading, No PFD’s, Alcohol
40	07-01	AL	Daniel S. Smith	22	Kayak	Cypress Creek	Dam at Florence Pumping Station	X	Low Head Dam
39	06-30	UT	Jaymond Brasher	47	Raft	Colorado River	Westwater Canyon, Skull Rapid	IV	PFD Came Off
38	06-29	ID	Keegan Ginther	29	Raft	Lochsa River	Wild. Gateway Br. to Split Cr. Pack Bridge	IV	Flush Drowning
37	06-29	CA	Tyler Minton, Lee Mattice	17, 43	Kayak	Yuba River	Englebright Dam to Parks Bar (Hwy 20)	X	Low Head Dam
36	06-29	ID	Brad Davis	47	Raft	Middle Fork Salmon River	Boundary Creek to Cache Bar	IV	Flush Drowning
35	06-27	ID	Stephen Forster	19	Kayak	Payette, N. Fork	Smiths Ferry to Banks	V	Flush Drowning
34	06-26	ID	Cami Oburn	34	Raft	Middle Fk Boise	above confluence with Boise River	III	Strainer
33	06-25	CO	John Novak	31	Kayak	Eagle	Riverbend bus stop to Edwards	IV	Flush Drowning
32	06-23	CO	Frank Diskin	69	Comm Raft	Cache La Poudre	Mishiwaka	IV	Flush Drowning
31	06-19	TN	Andrew Silvershein	16	Comm Raft	Ocoee River	Upper	IV	Foot Entrapment
30	06-17	CO	Susan Pyeatt-Terpening	65	Raft	Colorado River	Near Radium	III	Flush-Drowning
29	06-16	MT	Christopher Johnson	33	Comm Raft	Yellowstone River	Yankee Jim Canyon	III	Flush Drowning
28	06-15	PA	Michael Romo	41	Kayak	Susquehanna River	Dock Street Dam, Harrisburg, PA	X	Low Head Dam
27	06-13	CA	Quang Nguyen, Scott Neacato	25, 22	Raft	Kern River	Mouth of canyon to Lake Ming	V	Flush Drowning
26	06-09	AZ	James J. Waring Jr	39	Raft	Colorado River	Grand Canyon; Hance Rapid	IV	Flush Drowning
25	06-08	CO	Sue Ann Apolinar	38	Comm Raft	Arkansas River	Fisherman's Bridge to Stone Bridge	III	Strainer
24	06-08	MI	Sean Arnett	28	Canoe	Grand River		?	Strainer
23	06-05	TN	Jay McElroy	36	Comm Raft	Ocoee River	Upper	IV	Health Problem
22	06-03	GA	Anna VanHorn	9	RentedTube	Chattahoochee	Metro Hooch	II	No PFD
21	06-01	IN	Unidentified Boy	1	Canoe	Whitewater River	Metamora, IN to Elizabethtown, OH	I	PFD Came Off
20	05-31	UT	Shirley Palmer	73	IK	Green River	Ouray to Green River Town	II	Flush Drowning
19	05-31	UT	Nathan Daniel Ellison	13	Air Matress	Provo River	Deer Creek Res. to Utah Lake	I	No PFD
18	05-28	ID	Randy A. Eroen	35	Comm Raft	Lochsa River	Wild. Gateway Br. to Split Ck Pack Bridge	IV	Flush Drowning
17	05-28	NY	Angelo Zotto	71	Rented Raft	Delaware	Hancock to Port Jervis	II	No PFD
16	05-23	OR	Robert Desmarais	65	Comm Raft	Owyhee	Three Forks to Rome; Upset Rapid	IV	Caught in hole
15	05-21	MI	John Przydatek, Doug Killingbeck	16, 48	Canoe	Huron River	Near Milford, MI	X	Low Head Dam
14	05-21	PA	Jason Whipkey	31	Kayak	Youghiogheny	6. Lower	II	No PFD
13	05-16	MT	Mary Patricia Plochowietz	68	Drift Boat	Smith River	Camp Baker to Eden Bridge		Flush drowning
12	05-06	ND	Cory Berger, James Hellman	23, 24	Canoe	Apple Creek	Apple Creek country Club, Bismark, ND		No PFD, Dam Intake, Hi Water
11	04-30	NY	Ronald Roth	67	Canoe	Black River		?	No PFD
10	04-21	WV	Donald Smith	45	Kayak	N Fork Blackwater	to Blackwater River	V	Strainer
9	04-19	IN	David Pritchett	48	Kayak	Big Walnut Creek	Putnam County, NY	?	Flooded River, Solo paddler
8	04-17	NY	Nicholas Kozemko	24	Kayak	Catharine Creek	Near Veteran, NY	X	Low Head Dam
7	04-13	KY	Tim Godfrey	29	Canoe	Big South Fork Cumberland	Station Camp to Blue Heron, KY	III	Flush Drowning
6	04-03	WV	Paul Malone, Sam Acord, Dean Halsey	23, 49	John Boat	New River	Bluestone Dam to Sandstone	II	No PFD’s
5	03-26	OR	Warren Moran	59	Drift Boat	McKenzie River	McNutt Island	?	Strainer
4	02-19	CA	Matthew Miller & Gavin Powell,	16, 17	Raft	Walnut Creek	Near Concord, CA	?	No PFD’s
3	01-11	AZ	Scott Foster	42	Kayak	Colorado River	Grand Canyon; Pres Harding Rapid	III	Flush Drowning
2	01-01	TN	Porpon (Paul) Pichanusakorn	27	Kayak	Tellico Creek	Upper; Ledge above Baby Falls	IV	Caught in hole
1	06-21	Alberta Canada	Simon Davidson	20	Kayak	Red Creek		VI	Waterfall

Injuries from Running Waterfalls
	07-12	CA	Nathan Warren	27	Kayak	American River			Spinal Injury
	06-26	OR	Robert McKenzie			Bridal Veil Creek	Bridal Veil Falls		Spinal Injury
	03-21	OR	Tyler Brandt		Kayak	Aquiba Falls			Spinal injury
	03-20	CA	Jason Craig		Kayak	Dry Creek	Near Marysville, CA		Spinal Injury
	03-11	OR	Jesse Coombs		Kayak	Aquiba Falls			Spinal Injury

Whitewater Accidents Reported to AW January - July 15, 2011

Whitewater Accidents Reported to American Whitewater Jan – July 15, 2011

Don’t add your name to this list!

Foot Entrapment

Swam into sieve

No PFD

IK

Foot Entrapment

IK

Caught in hole