Kevin tells: He was sucked straight down under water while holding onto the stern of my boat. He remembers looking up through the clear water at the waters surface 3-4' above him. Meanwhile, I was being spun in wild circles by the whirlpools, with the bow of my boat pointing almost straight up in the air and the water going up to my neck. I was taking my class on the Ottawa River through a rapide called "Butcher Knife" which has HUGE whirlpools at the end. I was waiting in the eddy behind the whirls and saw a student swimming down, hanging on to his Mirage [the hot boat of the day - 4 metres long, 13 feet 2inches]. I paddled up, in my Mirage, he got hold of my rear grab loop and we hit the eddy. Almost. The vortex got us. I remember my boat going vertical and then the world got dark and then I rolled up, student still attached. The other paddlers said that, at its maximum, my boat was only showing about a foot of bow when I was vertical. So my student, holding his large-volume kayak, was 12 feet under water. But I wouldn't call the experience fun at the time. Makes a good story 21 years later though. Jim Tibensky _________________________________________________________________ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Wouldn't it be interesting to have a knowledgeable person calculate the force needed to pull all that buoyancy so far under water. Jim ----- Original Message ----- > The vortex got us. I remember my boat going vertical and then the world got > dark and then I rolled up, student still attached. The other paddlers said > that, at its maximum, my boat was only showing about a foot of bow when I > was vertical. So my student, holding his large-volume kayak, was 12 feet > under water. But I wouldn't call the experience fun at the time. Makes a > good story 21 years later though. > > Jim Tibensky *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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