Those Crazy Kayakers at Great Falls National Park (Reston: dangerous, swimming)

[normie]

OK, in case you were wondering here's proof that the kayakers at Great Falls are nuts:

This is a short clip


YouTube - Great Falls Kayak Drop

This clip is longer, and is a little rough--but the drops over the falls are astonishing. All I can say is I hope those guys had plenty of Tylenol and Ben Gay after attempting these drops!


YouTube - Kayaking Great Falls of the Potomac

[Workin_Hard]

Each year, a few don't make it. The videos pop up on YouTube, it rates a few minutes on the local news with photos of some upset kids and (usually) wives or other relatives. A few days/weeks later, the body is found. Meh!

Darwinism at work.

[normie]

Originally Posted by Workin_Hard

Each year, a few don't make it.

It's not quite that bad. It might be more realistic to say every few years there's a kayaker who doesn't make it... but usually those are beginners, not the kayakers who do the stunts over the falls. The ones who go to the falls generally go with groups and know what they're doing. Granted, they're nuts--I would never attempt going over the falls myself--but the ones who get into the most trouble seem to be beginners who don't respect the buoys that mark the danger zone above the falls.

Sadly, a lot of people go out on kayaks without learning how to handle them because they want to go to a special fishing spot their buddy told them about--and they paddle into dangerous areas. What's worse is the fools who want to swim in the Potomac, especially the ones who take little kids out into the middle of the river and let them swim from canoes.

[Willey]

Two kayakers have died in the 20,000 year history of Great Falls. Sometimes "climbers" are also blamed for deaths, but very few to no qualified rock climbers have fallen in and drowned.

The rest of the "climbers" and others are usually ordinary pedestrians who climb along the rocks or do something otherwise dumb and just fall in. One year, two knuckleheads rented a canoe from Riverbend Park and didn't realize that the falls were there. Miraculously, they came out unscathed.

The folks in the pictures are qualified for what they are doing. From the video, you can see their skills in eddying, lining up for the drop, etc. flipping is common, and it is very deep beneath the Falls. This area hosts many expert and Olympic kayakers, and we should be proud of it. Why did the two above kayakers die? Class V is class V and accidents do happen. Both were very skilled. Probably two or more people have been killed driving to the park as well.

[Caladium]

Originally Posted by normie

OK, in case you were wondering here's proof that the kayakers at Great Falls are nuts:

Normie, time to 'fess up--which one is you in those videos?

[normie]

Originally Posted by Caladium

Normie, time to 'fess up--which one is you in those videos?

Hahaha yah right... I'm way too lazy for that. I just paddle around the islands, looking at the birds and basking in the sun. Sometimes I bring the paper and a foo-foo drink with an umbrella in it. Now that's the way to kayak!

[Willey]

Isn't this normie here? The Great Falls of the Potomac on Vimeo

[normie]

Originally Posted by Willey

Isn't this normie here? The Great Falls of the Potomac on Vimeo

I'm the one on the rocks taking a snooze in the upper left hand corner. Very cool video, by the way.

[JfromReston]

Originally Posted by Workin_Hard

Each year, a few don't make it. The videos pop up on YouTube, it rates a few minutes on the local news with photos of some upset kids and (usually) wives or other relatives. A few days/weeks later, the body is found. Meh!

Darwinism at work.

Only two kayakers have not made it and of those only one body was found. I was the girlfriend of the kayaker whose body was not found(Scott Bristow - November 1998). I was devastated. Experienced kayakers die at Great Falls and on many other rivers, but this is not an example of Darwinism at work.

[normie]

Originally Posted by JfromReston

Only two kayakers have not made it and of those only one body was found. I was the girlfriend of the kayaker whose body was not found(Scott Bristow - November 1998). I was devastated. Experienced kayakers die at Great Falls and on many other rivers, but this is not an example of Darwinism at work.

I'm so sorry to hear that. What a sad story. I'm glad the number of kayakers drowning is lower than I thought. It seems like every few years you hear about someone drowning in the river, but the river is long. Many of the incidents happen quite far from the falls.

I guess I just assumed it was mostly kayakers who got hurt, but now that I think about it the stories I recall happened when people tried to go swimming, or fell into the river for some reason (climbing where they shouldn't climb or sometimes because they were drunk). They're all sad stories, no matter how it happens. The Potomac looks so peaceful--and it is peaceful in a boat. There's quite a current at the bottom of the river, however, so it's dangerous to swim there.