There's a right way, and a wrong way, and it's not the height of the drop that matters. Unfortunately, the cool whitewater videos don't show the scouting or talk about river topology.
low head dam dangers The low head dams seem harmless at first to most people, because people judge the danger by the small amount of water going over the dam at the top. The real danger is in the hydraulic, that the dam creates from the continual force of the water pounding the riverbed just below the dam.
I was a Volunteer EMT in central NJ in the early 1980’s with an all volunteer rescue squad at the time. We had numerous head dams of the Raritan river in our jurisdiction. We did several drills with the Garden State Underwater Recovery Unit. Notice i said “recovery” not rescue! Often times once you are trapped in the hysraulic or boil, you simply cannot get out. Your PFD only make it worse as the water attempts to put you under, your PFD does it’s job and returns you to the surface. We were told then, your only hope is to remove your PFD and attempt to go to the bottom of the hydraulic, allowing you to sneak out from beneath it. Still a risky proposition at it’s best. We id lose a kayaker in the dam that spring, he was stuck in the hydraulic. With only 8" of water going over the dam, we even had a local patrolman walk out 1/2 way accross the head dam. We had to yell at him to leave the scene unless he too wanted to become a fatality. You see to rescue someone from such a hydraulic you need to do so WITHOUT, placing yourself in the water! Some of the above posts suggested getting Youtube to remove this video, better yet as a responsible kayaker forward this Youtube video “Low head dam danger from Boone, Iowa” to everyone they know. This way people are educated on the dangers of such dams. Talk about flirting with certain death!