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been doing an admirable job of holding the front end down, but as she surrenders her post, our hopes are dashed forever.
A half second later, the whole thing is on top of us, and I'm trying to find a way to the surface. Now, before I go on, there are several things you should know about a freshly rolled cataraft. It is very stable with all the heavy stuff on the bottom, and all that valuable hardware digs in and quickly grabs the deeper currents. Suddenly we leap from the hole, cresting that monster wave with ease. I come up near the back of the boat and pull myself in. Joe has done the same and we quickly grab Russ and haul him over the side, but where's his wife? We hear a squeal from starboard, ...or port, it's hard to tell with the ship floating shiny side up. We reach for her and try to pull her in, but she's a big girl, and she can't seem to use her left arm to help us with the effort. Before I can remember what the book said about this procedure, we hit one of those semi-submerged rocks that I normally try to avoid. Diana is on the down stream side and I fear that she is going to be scraped off. I hear a loud crunch as she goes under. I look for her on the other side and see an oar, complete with clip and pin slowly sinking behind us, but no Diana. Russ shouts, "She's still here." How she remains holding on with only one hand, I don't know. Desperately we grab her and slide her over the tube and set her on the back side of the frame, but that last rock did a number on her leg and she can't sit without help.
There is nothing for us to do. At least nothing I can think of at the moment. Joe suggests prayer. I'll remember that next time. I'll also read that chapter on river rescue, ...or maybe I just studied the pictures carefully. I start to wonder if experience has something to do with this business.
Another ten minutes race by as we continue down stream out of control, bouncing from rock to rock. We approach the spot where Nova Riverunners takes out for their lunch break. They're still here! We yell and scream and do everything we can to attract attention to our miserable predicament, but no one is paying attention. Finally one of their customers turns around to retrieve something from their boat and spots us. Two guys run for a raft as we sweep from their sight.
My rememberer seems to be working better now and it dawns on me that there is still at least one oar attached to the down side of our aquatic pin ball. I fumble over the edge of the tube as we continue to smash waves and careen from rock to rock. I've got one! I hand it to Joe and go back for the spare. Now why didn't I attach that thing in a spot handy to the bottom side? Oh, yeah. I wasn't planning on driving it this way. Now with calmer water and both oars in hand we start paddling ourselves river right. Our take out is around the next bend and we don't want to pass it. Just then we took behind and discover the two heroes from Nova have caught us and are throwing a line. We sit back as they pull us to shore right in front of our cars.
It turns out that when Diana fell from her seat, she hit an oar pin and cracked her upper arm. Her leg was terribly bruised and looked to be broken as well. Nova radioed for assistance, and Diana got a cushy ride to Palmer in an ambulance and a nights rest in the hospital. I wish I could say it was free. The boat suffered surface damage only. Oar pins, seats, cooler and dry bags, all the stuff that was used for traction to get us out of Greg's grip have been scraped off. I'm thinking Greg should help pay for some of this stuff.
I didn't go back to the Matanuska River for a while, and it was over a year before I got over the trauma of my first roll. I reread that book and noticed something I'd missed before. I said, in plain English, "There are two types of rafters, those that have rolled their boats and those that will roll their boats." I'm sure glad that's over with. Now where's that map of the Nenana Canyon?
A half second later, the whole thing is on top of us, and I'm trying to find a way to the surface. Now, before I go on, there are several things you should know about a freshly rolled cataraft. It is very stable with all the heavy stuff on the bottom, and all that valuable hardware digs in and quickly grabs the deeper currents. Suddenly we leap from the hole, cresting that monster wave with ease. I come up near the back of the boat and pull myself in. Joe has done the same and we quickly grab Russ and haul him over the side, but where's his wife? We hear a squeal from starboard, ...or port, it's hard to tell with the ship floating shiny side up. We reach for her and try to pull her in, but she's a big girl, and she can't seem to use her left arm to help us with the effort. Before I can remember what the book said about this procedure, we hit one of those semi-
There is nothing for us to do. At least nothing I can think of at the moment. Joe suggests prayer. I'll remember that next time. I'll also read that chapter on river rescue, ...or maybe I just studied the pictures carefully. I start to wonder if experience has something to do with this business.
Another ten minutes race by as we continue down stream out of control, bouncing from rock to rock. We approach the spot where Nova Riverunners takes out for their lunch break. They're still here! We yell and scream and do everything we can to attract attention to our miserable predicament, but no one is paying attention. Finally one of their customers turns around to retrieve something from their boat and spots us. Two guys run for a raft as we sweep from their sight.
My rememberer seems to be working better now and it dawns on me that there is still at least one oar attached to the down side of our aquatic pin ball. I fumble over the edge of the tube as we continue to smash waves and careen from rock to rock. I've got one! I hand it to Joe and go back for the spare. Now why didn't I attach that thing in a spot handy to the bottom side? Oh, yeah. I wasn't planning on driving it this way. Now with calmer water and both oars in hand we start paddling ourselves river right. Our take out is around the next bend and we don't want to pass it. Just then we took behind and discover the two heroes from Nova have caught us and are throwing a line. We sit back as they pull us to shore right in front of our cars.
It turns out that when Diana fell from her seat, she hit an oar pin and cracked her upper arm. Her leg was terribly bruised and looked to be broken as well. Nova radioed for assistance, and Diana got a cushy ride to Palmer in an ambulance and a nights rest in the hospital. I wish I could say it was free. The boat suffered surface damage only. Oar pins, seats, cooler and dry bags, all the stuff that was used for traction to get us out of Greg's grip have been scraped off. I'm thinking Greg should help pay for some of this stuff.
I didn't go back to the Matanuska River for a while, and it was over a year before I got over the trauma of my first roll. I reread that book and noticed something I'd missed before. I said, in plain English, "There are two types of rafters, those that have rolled their boats and those that will roll their boats." I'm sure glad that's over with. Now where's that map of the Nenana Canyon?
