In my last entry I emphasized wearing life jackets on the river. Then someone posted this you tube video on the forum.
I take back what I said about everyone needing to wear life jackets. These guys should wear Kevlar vests and helmets! Now that looks like some fun stuff!
Our forum member Riverdad quoted a friend of his on the discussion boards recently “”Jet boating is the funnest thing you will ever do on the water, but when things go bad, they go bad very fast - you must be prepared ahead of time!!”
That statement could not be more true!
Now of course we cannot be prepared for all possibilities, there are a lot of different things that can go wrong on the river, but we can always cover the basics that could very well save lives.
These are a few of the things that I find the most important.
Life Jackets - Always, always, always while on the River wear your PFD and make sure all your passengers do the same. I have slacked from time to time about this but the longer I am involved in the sport and the more incidents I hear about or witness I tell you it just makes no sense not to wear it on the river. When things go wrong it happens way to fast to be scrambling around looking for your life jacket.
Passengers - Before departing do an emergency run down with your passengers. This can include going over where all the safety gear is located such as ropes, anchors, fire extinguisher, first aid kit and what they might be asked to do with those things in certain situations. It is also a good idea to go over how to start and operate the kicker motor.
Rope’s - Next to PFD’s, ropes are a must have on your boat but they only help you if know where they are and have them ready if needed quickly. Over the last few years I have seen a couple boats saved by other boats only because ropes were immediately handy and were quickly deployed and attached to the other boat in time to pull the distressed boat out of danger.
These are just some real basic tips, by no means is this a comprehensive list on being prepared. But it covers some of the real basic stuff that in a pinch can make a difference.
The weather is warming, the snow is melting and it is that time of year when I start looking forward to the Western Whitewater Associations annual Hog Fest along the Snake River in Glenn’s Ferry.
This years event will be help March 14th at the Three Island Crossing recreation area in Glenn’s Ferry, in the lower campground. There are usually a fair number of people that come down and camp Friday night with a lot of socializing going on.
The Jet Boat run will be Saturday morning with boats starting to launch around 8:00 a.m. They will usually try to get the groups somewhat organized Friday night at the campground with times for each group to leave the ramp in the morning, so everyone is not trying to launch at the same time. This attempt at organization is not always very smooth, so be forewarned!
It is a good idea to find the run chairperson when you arrive to get the low down on what is going on.
The jet boats will run up river in groups of 3 to 5 boats (sometimes more) to a point bellow Peg Leg rapid and come back down in the afternoon. Saturday nights dinner starts around 6:00 p.m. with the WWA providing the pig and asking those attending to bring side dishes. It is usually one awesome dinner.
This is not a real difficult run, and probably one of the better suited stretches of river for newer boaters. BUT, BUT, BUT – this is not to say there are not hazards along this stretch of the Snake River. If you don’t know this river there are places where you can get into trouble quickly. Castle Rock Rapid and Palmers Rock are not much in the way of whitewater but both have managed to inflict their fair share of damage to boats. And there is also the occasional boat getting stuck in a sand bar in the middle of the river, and as heavy as these boats are they are not a lot of fun getting unstuck.
This water, like any other, does warrant caution as always. Link to flyer