I don’t plan to put painters on my
newest whitewater boat. The painters on its predescessor are only about 8 feet, and are made with a large diameter rope that is not likely to spontaneously knot around my leg.
My way of securing painters is to push them under the lacing holding the airbags in the boat.
Painters secured…
– Last Updated: Nov-10-08 6:12 PM EST –
My way:
I never intentionally leave a painter that is attached to any of my canoes hanging in the water; accident waiting to happen.
I often daisy chain the painters on my canoes; this shortens the length of the painters dramatically, and if/when needed, the daisy chained painter is rapidly undone/deployed with a quick pull. It's pretty difficult to get entangled in a snugly made daisy chain.
If I want the painters more secure; I secure daisy chained painters under bungee cords that I have installed on the hand holds, or the decking of my canoes.
On my whitewater canoes I always secured the painters(not daisy chained) on "top" of the air bags, and "under" the air bag lacing, so they were easily deployed, if/when necessary.
I always carry a river knife.
Don't care if others do or not.
Don't care if others wear their pfd or not.
I always wear one.
Don't care if others shoot 100 foot long, 6 foot diameter tubes.
I don't shoot tubes.
They make great strainers.
As for the Dad who made a poor decision(if he did in fact intend to run the tube), and lost his son as a result.......I have a pretty good idea what he probably has to say about shooting tubes.
BOB
Nope, many think that
one trailing in the water is good for a paddler to grab if he capsizes.
I know of a livery that instructs the people they rent to to leave it trailing in the water.
cheers,
JackL
Knots
I used to put a knot in the end of my panters so all of it wouldn’t slip through my fingers when lining or tracking. On a recent paddle when stopped to help others at a mild obsticle,I tied my boat up.After I finished I hopped in my canoe and untied my canoe,the current quickly grabbed the boat,so I dropped the painter and grabbed my paddle to manover.The knot caught on a branch and pulled me into a bad spot.I got loose and since untied my knots on all my painters! Turtle
Good point Turtle
Knots in painters do have a way of becoming wedged in places where you would never expect. For any new paddlers reading this post, take heed and leave your painters un-knotted at the ends.
And to the outfitter suggesting that a painater be trailed, shame on you! You are obviously concerned about loosing canoes - but you need to consider the liability of this practice.
Jim
I’de try it…
Paddle easy,
Coffee
You’d wet yourself
That’s just plain stupid
Loose painters and knives
Tragic story - too much to slice and dice here.
I have a serious question about the idea of being able to use a knife in this scenario. Is that practical if you are being held downstream by the leg in hard moving water? Even with great presence of mind, I am wondering if the pressure of the water and/or the ability to see where the rope was would work too much against the paddler.
It would work in a James Bond movie
… beyond that, I’d guess the odds of success would be much less than 5 percent. From the posted pics, that is some unbelievable water pressure. Getting snagged or entangled in that current would be an extremely violent affair.
it is done as part of the NZOIA Kayak 2
assessment (depending on the assessor).
Typically candidates tie a clove hitch to one of their ankles, jump in a hole, and then cut themselves free. The knife/scissors must be where they normally store it before entering the water.
I would guess that the odds
of being able to A) reach the knife and B) bend against the current to cut the rope are pretty small. But better to have the knife and not need it than to not have it.
Still, after seeing the pictures of the dam I an inclined to rate it a solid Class VI. The approach is difficult with apparently no way to scout, you are committed as soon as the current catches you with no opportunity to eddy out, and you have no idea what forms of entrapment, if any, are inside the tunnels.
Truely, a form of Russian Roulette. I feel sorry for the father, but what a bad decision they made.
Jim
not a class VI
it is hard to rate manmade structures, but there is no way that is a class VI, especially since many people have successfully navigated it, even in open canoes. The reason for the fatality is not the “rapid”, but the unsafe use of a rope attached to the boat. from what i can tell from the pictures, and admittedly i have no first hand experience with this specific location, the structure itself is no more than a glorified water slide, seeing as there is no hole at the bottom to get recirculated in. The only thing I would be wary of is if you truly can’t see the entrance until you are right on it or past the point of no return, in case a log is broached across the entrance. If that is the case, then yes, it’s not a wise move. However, it looks like there is a bike trail over the top of it, so it would be an easy scout. The likely-hood of something being caught in the middle of a tube is minimal. once in, it goes through.
either way, it is a tragic accident and my thoughts are with the family.
Been victimized by trailing painter
My friend had a painter of plain old clothes-line rope on his Grumman. When it came off the truck, I recall a metal fitting on the end of the line. My friend said later that he had removed that fitting, but we will never know, because the end or the rope is still on the bottom of the Kennebec river, where it became wedged, causing the boat to capsize and eject both my friend and I. It wasn’t floating line anyway, so the metal fitting may be irrelevant.
The canoe was still in one piece, but beaten to death by the time we were able to retrieve it the next day.
I don’t favor trailing a painter as sound canoeing practice.
~~Chip
There are all kinds of odd and
dangerous ideas in the paddling world. The painter can easily be deployed from a lifejacket pocket or thwart bag. It is just a hazard if left in a vulnerable position to deploy on its own.
Dogmaticus
If you are at all interested in more
than just speculation, take a swiftwater or whitewater rescue course. If I was entangled in current with a rope I have absolutely no doubt that said rope would be cut.
Dogmaticus
Being in a current may be one thing
Being in a man-made pipe with a trememdous and continuous water flow, without variation of any kind, and strongly sloping gradient, I’d have to think it is a little different situation. Seems like the difference between being in a hole and being in the hydraulic of a big, continuous low-head dam.
I figure it would depend on the …
– Last Updated: Nov-11-08 2:08 PM EST –
...speed of the current, the location of the rope entanglement on your body (trapped by one foot would probably be the worst case, while the upper torso wouldn't be so bad), and the depth of the anchorage point (a shallow anchorage would place you close to the surface, where you might be able to get a portion of your body out of the water during your contortions to cut the rope). More speculation, yes, but I heard of a case where a woman capsized and got her leg trapped in swift water that was quite shallow, and she was pulled under and pinned. Others immediately went to her aid and lifted her body as high as they could which was just high enough that she could breath, and they were not strong enough to hold her in that position for more than a very short time - not nearly long enough to figure out a way to get her loose. Here's a case where three or four people couldn't hold a person at just a slight angle to the current for more than a short time, yet it was a much more favorable situation than a person needing to rely entirely on their own strength to bend against the current. If you were trapped by the ankle below the surface in such current, you are sure you could bend your body back against the flow? Remember that the force of the current on your body increases in proportion to the square of the velocity, so even small increases in current speed will make a big difference. I seriously doubt that this particular swiftwater rescue scenario is practiced with the anchor rope positioned a few feet below the surface (betcha anything the anchor point is above the water's surface so helpers can pull you in or release you if need be), or that it is done at a huge number of diffent locations with widely varying current speeds (betcha anything this is practiced at one spot that is convenient to get to, and you work with whatever current there happens to be), but that's just speculation on my part again.
Clarion brings up a good point too. Think how much faster the water is flowing in chutes like this which are within the confines of the dam. The gradient here would be much steeper than what you'd find in nature, except on the face of a waterfall, so you can bet the current is unnaturally fast too.
Assuredly the Dependents Are
– Last Updated: Nov-11-08 4:25 PM EST –
And thus in what is current,
with lines we've presumed to dissect,
many loose ends dangle a life in the web
where entangles past point of correct,...
these many loose ends dangle past life in this web,
spun on threads worn circumspect.