Kayaker stuck to the tree - Rescue - Rettenbach 165cm - 28.3.2022

Kayaker swam into a tree and couldn't get away because of the strong current.

[@Onelesstraveledby]

Well done! Greetings and thumbs up from Canada!

[@mayrbmx]

Dankeschön :) Greetings back.

[@gpalmer456]

These are the types of things that have led me to dial back my whitewater adventures significantly. It took an experience similar to this that made me realize that all of the fun isn’t worth the risk. Bravo to the man who helped the pinned man.

[@mayrbmx]

you only live once, and it can be so much fun.

[@waterdragon4950]

Without risk, what’s the point?

[@ssrhythm6923]

I had to dial my boating back after I moved away from whitewater, went back to school, gained weight, and returned to boating the same stuff thinking I was still a skinny, young badass. Cracked my humerus and dislocated my shoulder on Col. Dicks and re-tweaked it a few months later on the NFFB. It sucked, but I'm just happy I made it through that time of my life alive and well. I cherish those days, and I get plenty of jazz just watching these POV vids of creeks I wish we all knew of back in the day. That said, this vid would never have made me reconsider paddling anything...that dood shouldn't have been paddling more than gentle class 3 if he did not understand that he needed to be making a wake as he swam away from that tree. Sheesh! Glad he's ok.

[@MtHockey]

Same here, I was on a steep creek run in ID, and at one point, all of us were sideways on strainers. I had a 3-year-old at home, so the bravura no longer made sense. I decided that one could have as much fun on III/IV runs that were much more forgiving..

[@tankmaster1018]

Had pretty much this exact situation happen to a friend recently, only he was still in his boat when he hit the log, and it pinned him right on his chest and pulled him down far enough that only the very tip of his face was out of the water. Came across him screaming and begging for help while trying to hold his head above the water, and I almost completely froze up because I was so unprepared for the situation to go from a casual paddle, to a literal life and death situation in the course of 5 seconds. I was lucky though, cause he pinned on a thick, but dead and rotting tree trunk that had fallen over on its own and was only like 5 feet from the shore. All I had to do was get out of my boat, crawl the 15 feet upstream to where he pinned, and kick the tree trunk until it snapped which finally allowed my buddy to reach his skirt and get out of the boat. I will never forget those first 10 seconds where I initially came across the pin site when he was hysterical and thought he was gonna drown for the rest of my life... All I could think about after that was the fact that I got them into paddling in the first place, and if I didn't save him and he ended up drowning, it would be pretty much directly my fault since he would have never been in that situation in the first place if I hadn't gotten him into paddling. You can read about accidents all day and take a hundred swiftwater rescue courses, but nothing can ever prepare you for the rush of emotions and panic the first time one of your buddies ends up in a situation where there is a real chance of them dying. Defiantly made me take a few big steps back for awhile after witnessing that...

[@minyambou]

Nicely done. Creative use of what you had in your hands at the time to perform a quick rescue.

[@mayrbmx]

Yes, that worked great and nothing more was necessary.

[@chicklechives]

Person first, kit second. Always

[@mayrbmx]

that's exactly what I did, or do you see the kayak where? No, because it kept drifting.

[@travishalford5223]

Gosh getting the boat back must've been hell. Glad you guys made it though that was one mean log in a really bad spot

[@mayrbmx]

I then drove down and caught the kayak 500 meters later.

[@sandrajohnson9998]

My goodness, this is why self rescue is always king! There was absolutely time to avoid this, unless he thought going over the tree there would be easier for him in the moment

[@mayrbmx]

he got over the tree by himself.

[@loganlewis7083]

Looks like you helped with the paddle some

[@agarcia6585]

In the river it is not always possible to swim where you'd like. This stream being highly turbulent and narrow would have been very difficult to avoid the strainer. Going over would be far safer than going under. You never know if you'll make it or become entrapped.

[@josephtaylor6346]

Seems like there is some footage missing! Catching the Eddie on river left was the correct thing to do👍 However it does seem like the swimmer could have avoided the tree! No communication ( whistle, shouting, hand or paddle signal ) Did the guy in the yellow kayak have a throw bag!? Aggressively swimming to the side or performing a self rescue looked doable! Throw the paddle and swim! The flow cannot have been very strong because otherwise there would have been no chance to get over the top of the tree using a paddle rescue! There was so much that could have been done to avoid this incident and I’d say you are both lucky that it was a relatively clean strainer in a small rapid! Imagine 10 times more flow and more logs downstream to get caught in if you got washed under the tree! Or even something more simple as getting part of your gear ( buoyancy aid or deck loop caught on a branch ) In the end the rescue worked and you did something which is better than nothing! I would recommend you both get on a professionally run white water safety and rescue course and also stop soloing or kayaking in groups of less than 3! The one thing that stands out to me the most is not being able to swim to the side, not realising the danger they were in and the lack of communication and urgency! I am a fellow kayaker so don’t hesitate to call me out on any of my comments! I am happy to explain or discuss anything you may not have understood! We can even chat in German

[@mayrbmx]

Hello, I was alone, so whistling, screaming, or anything else would have done nothing. I certainly had a throwbag in the boat, but what should I bring myself? it was just drop and pool. there wasn't any more water that i could have floated on, so i don't have to worry about what comes next. By the way, there is an impassable place afterwards :D why do you think that large groups are better on the contrary, with such small streams you just get in each other's way and everything takes forever, more than 3 people are simply nothing. i messed up the line and got my nose too low i thought it would work out. I saved myself, of course, it could have turned out badly, but it's not.

[@knaz7468]

Well done.

[@mayrbmx]

thanks

[@gunnelgrabber]

Good reaction, smooth and efficient.

[@mayrbmx]

thank you :)

[@billa8083]

The swimmer should’ve been booking it into the eddy instead of just floating downstream. When swimming you either have to have a plan ahead of time of where to go or make a plan really quick and get to the side and away from any logs or other bad spots.

[@mayrbmx]

He thought he could get over the tree.

[@kilowhiskeywon3302]

Pilots have a couple of sayings. Landing is controlled crashing, and a bad crash is the one that someone doesn't walk away from. All arm chair kayaking aside. That's a good rescue.... everyone walks away. Only those in the experience understand all the dynamics and the split second decision processes utilized. Lessons learned come from revisiting the experience and deciding what could be improved on if you had the same experience again. Live, learn, grow, excel, repeat.

[@mayrbmx]

Genau, es hat alles eben gepasst.

[@aldraxart]

Puh, immer diese Sondereinlagen! War das oberhalb des Lattenpegels? Habt's das Boot bergen können? Wo?

[@mayrbmx]

War ca. 400 Meter unterhalb der Pegelmessstelle, bin bei dem Baum schon 100x vorbei gefahren, dachte mir auch nie viel dort. Kajak blieb weiter unten zwischen 2 Steinen hängen, hat jetzt 1 Delle mehr :D

[@JustinBaker2567]

If he ditched his paddle and aggressively swam right he would have avoided log.

[@mayrbmx]

Yes, it's always easy to talk afterwards

[@michaelbroadwill4143]

I mean, I'm not even sure he would have had to swim 'aggressively' to avoid it. He basically just floated up to the strainer with zero attempt at self rescue.

[@mayrbmx]

@@michaelbroadwill4143 The current is stronger than you think, and he tried.

[@codycharles4329]

My Nana could have caught that eddy swimming. When you say tried what you mean is he uselessly flapped his arms a couple of times and then floated right on to the strainer. Get on your stomach and fucking swim like your life depends on it.

[@jambianibob]

'Float and hope' at its worst. Really have no sympathy.

[@waterdragon4950]

Good teamwork when it all happens so fast.

[@mayrbmx]

Thank you 🙂

[@cheskybaba4864]

how far down did the boat go?

[@mayrbmx]

500 meters :(

[@coloradosheets]

Why are all Daniel on Tour videos near death experiences?

[@mayrbmx]

Why all? it wasn't a near-death experience, but it could have gone haywire

[@k9koa]

Rookies should scout and then scout again and have safety plans. He wasnt pinned ,he was just holding on out of fear.

[@mayrbmx]

He wasn't afraid, he said whether he should just swim through. I said better not, you can get stuck. everything's ok.

[@AVetter90]

Stomper 80 is the boat youre in?

[@mayrbmx]

yes :)

[@AVetter90]

@@mayrbmx are you still paddling it? It is my boat as well. It is a legendary machine. Auto boofer. Kept me very safe on some high water runs. Love it i wish i can find some more used ones.

[@mayrbmx]

@@AVetter90 Haha I feel the same way, I think the kayak is also very awesome. I bought it in use, my first one was green, my second blue, and now it's black. But you don't often find them anymore. Unfortunately.

[@wouter6539]

What happened between 0:32 and 0:33?

[@jambianibob]

Nothing useful would be my guess.

[@D-blaze]

Thats a sexy black liquid logic

[@mayrbmx]

Thank you ☺

[@AC-oj6xr]

If my buddy is pinned in the river I'm going after them not the boat

[@mayrbmx]

And i did exactly the same thing.

[@88szisz]

Without kayak. Not a kayaker. 🤣

[@mayrbmx]

;)

[@richardkatz8713]

Rope?

[@mayrbmx]

I had a rope with me, but it wasn't necessary

[@davidbarrett6434]

Shout - Reach - Throw - Row - Go Reaching with a solid object like a paddle is lower on the hierarchy of risk so was the correct choice in this situation.

[@Rosskoish]

@@davidbarrett6434 Not really tbh. With a rope the guy rescuing could have been much much saver while getting the same effect or even more because he could pull much more. With the paddle he can use only one hand + he is in a bad position himself.

[@mayrbmx]

@@Rosskoish Nein, man sieht ja wie gut es geklappt hat, ein Seil hätte mir nicht mehr gebracht, ausserdem war ich in einer guten Position und die Position hätte sich nicht geändert.

[@channelbk779]

WTF? Swim into the eddy !!! Not the friggin strainer!!!!

[@mayrbmx]

🙈

[@johnrflinn]

Good reason to never kayak challenging whitewater alone

[@mayrbmx]

But it also depends on how well you drive and what you drive

[@waterdragon4950]

Never?

[@powerofknowledge7771]

That's the number one rule of thumb. Never go alone because you never know what could happen and when.... It's always unexpected. Everything always seems fine and good.... until it's suddenly not. If you have no one else around and you get in a situation like this, you're fucked.

[@imcasualdriver1396]

Where the hell is your rope man

[@mayrbmx]

In a kayak, a rope is not always necessary or advantageous.

[@BorisH2000UK]

Always carry a throw line in water like that

[@mayrbmx]

I have a throw bag with me, but there are other ways to solve problems, watch and learn.

[@patrickgulden7288]

so many mistakes. save the person first, not the boat. use a throw rope, not a slippery paddle. swimmers need to swim aggressively to the eddy, can even use your paddle to swim. kayaker should have presented the stern grab handle of their kayak to the swimmer and then pull him into the eddy.

[@mayrbmx]

For what please should I use a rope when in this case it is much easier with the paddle? The kayaker was probably thinking about the kayak too. many opinion.

[@davidyang2437]

@@mayrbmx It's natural to comment on your videos with feedback. I know some of the comments seem critical but it is standard practice to learn from dangerous situations and reflect on how to improve from these experiences. Establishing a "safety" or a person on standby with a throw bag is good practice where a swim presents risk. The tree is a strainer and the swimmer was fortunate not to get pulled under where there could be a risk of entrapment. Rope can be a danger but that risk can be managed by someone competent in its use. You have a much higher tolerance for risk than most paddlers and improved planning/setup before running a significant feature can help reduce the chances of something tragic occurring to someone in your group. Good luck and practice good decision making.

[@mayrbmx]

@@davidyang2437 I know the place there very well and we had eye contact, I saw it wasn't such a dramatic situation and the paddle was enough. You don't need a throw bag, see video, it works without it, I know everyone always knows better. By the way, the tree has no branches and it's not deep underneath, all facts that you don't know but of course you know better ;) Look how well it works with the paddle, people and better riders like me have often used this technique.