Just recently discovered this thread through our analytics report. Thanks to Aries63 and rwjoyak for linking our site, and for the positive comments. Thought we should weigh in here, given we've been operating on the middle Rio for eight seasons now.
As others have pointed out, strainers, log jams and other hazards are present on the river here, just as they are on all rivers. No natural river is a managed, cultivated, carefully manicured amusement park entirely free of hazards. Tragedies such as what occurred in Corrales this summer, while exceptionally rare, do happen throughout the country every year. ABQConvicts's contribution regarding the importance of wearing a
properly fastened life jacket (PFD) can't be emphasized strongly enough. Mining the most recent data compiled by the Outdoor Foundation regarding participation levels, and the US Coast Guard's data in respect to fatalities, reveals that there were 28,987,000 paddlesports outings in 2016, and 167 fatalities. Of these fatalities, 156 (85%) were due to drowning, and of the drowning victims, 133 (80%) were not wearing a PFD! And if it's not properly fastened, you're not wearing a PFD.
Of course, alcohol and drug use are consistently high contributing factors to boating fatalities. While this did not apply to the family involved in this accident, every year we see that somewhere around 15% of boating fatalities involved intoxication.
Sadly, in this instance, it would appear that the ultimate cause of the tragedy was just a lack of education regarding safe practices in respect to river recreation. As we emphasize with all guests on our guided outings, the most critical aspect of enjoying paddling on rivers involves understanding basic hydrology. Rivers have a mind of their own in respect to where floating objects should be, and the fun involved in paddling on a river has to do with taking advantage of the current, and not letting the current take advantage of you. The “
Self-Guided Adventures” and “
Which Should I Choose” pages on our website prominently state the following in respect to those considering heading out without guide support:
We recommend that Self-Guided Guests be competent swimmers, comfortable both underwater and swimming in current, and possess a fundamental understanding of river dynamics and sufficient skills to safely navigate Class I+/II rivers, including:
- How to recognize and avoid obstructions in the river channel
- How to stop and get to shore quickly and efficiently
- How eddy in and out of current
- How to position their watercraft when approaching hazardous bends
- How to recover from a mishap in moving water
We provide additional safety education information on the site as a public service for the benefit of private boaters, including the “
Current River Conditions” page which includes an embedded graph of the river gauge we monitor and details what one can expect in terms of current speeds and hazards that are present at varying conditions. We also apply, reference and link the “
Expanded Class I River Classification System” developed by Ron Watters of Idaho State University, as the American Whitewater definition of Class I water (“
Fast moving water with riffles and small waves. Few obstructions, all obvious and easily missed with little training. Risk to swimmers is slight; self-rescue is easy”), while perfectly fine for a competent whitewater boater, is alarmingly insufficient for the casual recreational paddler.
Although we weren't involved in this accident in any way, I was interviewed by Justin Matthews of Channel 7 following the incident. He had been told by the rescue personnel involved in the recovery of the victim that the family involved had “done everything right and this still happened”, and wanted to know what went wrong. I spent at least 25 minutes with him, and pointed out that simply having life jackets and not drinking does not equate to “doing everything right”. Channel 7 chose to use one short soundbite that ignored the entire point I made with him, but given that this was a family of seven and every single one impacted a tree in the center of the river channel, it's pretty clear that they understood none of the five points we recommend above. The tragedy is the severity of the consequences in this case. A lack of watercraft control in current can often lead to capsizes, impacts with low hanging trees and submerged objects and other mishaps , but on Class I/II water, the result is usually lost boats and/or gear and a traumatized victim, who's otherwise fine.
It's heartbreaking. We have had several self-guided guests overestimate their skills over the years, and require rescue and recovery as a result, but the overwhelming majority of the 15,000 or so we've hosted have had great experiences. The Rio Grande north of ABQ is one of the most spectacular Class I/II floats adjacent to a major city in the entire country, more people should be enjoying it than currently are, and is no more dangerous than any other Class I river anywhere. I recognize that not everyone can afford the cost of guided excursions or formal lessons, but given the educational resources that are available for free on the web (search YouTube!), it seems that spending an hour or two educating yourself before venturing out on any river is well worth the time involved.
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I would go with a guide now for the first run (and wear my life jacket).
Several Thoughts
