River Etive - April 2022

[@sbaldwin21]

Enjoyed that, good you included the swims too.

[@saltyw1]

Awesome 👌

[@Trage339]

Sorry but you gotta improve both paddling and rescuing. That guy at 4:19 takes a couple of rounds in the hole before anyone with a rope even arrives. It's 30 seconds till the Video cuts and there is no rope to be seen. Now maybe you need a couple attempts to get him grab the rope and he is easily 1-2mins in there. Thats far too long. Staying cool is important yes but you gotta hurry up atleast a little bit. And first of all probably set up one rope at the hole instead of all at the first one. Furthermore both following swimmers. (around 4:48) The first one doesnt even attempt to roll i guess and the second one tries like half a roll... In that kind of whitewater you probably should have a strong roll + attempt more than once. Especially the second guy who is far away from getting flushed down the next rapid. I know it's easy to write that in my comfortable chair here but i am pretty sure thats not very safe. But if you learn from that it's good and next time you can do it saver i guess.

[@WestcountryBusiness]

Our group hired the services of a kayak guide for this trip, who is in the boat at the base of the fall in control of the swimmer. Behind the rock on the right is a ledge where someone was stood in position with a line ready to go, but I don't believe adding rope into the situation where a kayaker was already better placed to deal with the situation would have made it any safer. Were the line needed, it was ready. Some of the rolling could improve, but we've all got (in various degrees) Ok rolls, however being upside down knowing your are about to go over a drop can sometimes encourage a paddler to leave their boat a little quicker than they otherwise would.

[@Trage339]

@@WestcountryBusiness I mean you hired a guide so i guess you tried. But honestly as a guide he should know better. "who is in the boat at the base of the fall in control of the swimmer" how? He can't get to him at all if he (the swimmer) get's stuck in that hole. All he could do is paddle inside of it himself and get stuck too. You even see him trying to reach the swimmer but failing cause he would get pulled into it himself. And then you get 2 swimmers. I am not 100% sure what you mean with "behind the rock on the right [..] where someone with a rope was ready to go" but it wasnt near the hole where he got stuck or was it? And if it was why wasn't she/he not throwing the rope? I kinda give you the part about rolling but i would still argue you should atleast try twice to roll.

[@WestcountryBusiness]

@@Trage339 so I've explained we had a professional guide in control, and safety in place right next to the drop, hidden from the camera but you still think the view from your PC is the best place to assess the situation. There's room for improvement in all situations, but we really did have enough cover in place to ensure it was never going to be any worse an outcome than a unpleasant swim and a story for the swimmer to tell.