One of the most disturbing incidents in my many years on the rivers took place yesterday. It appears that someone was in hurry and didn?t have the time to walk their boat across the barrier dam, which in this case cost a young fisherman his life. According to deputies and rescue personel on the scene the individual was pulled back into the eddy and sucked into the undertow with hip boots on and no life preserver handy.
All of us know that on the best day of fishing there is always a chance of this kind of thing happening without looking for a problem to happen. In this case I can?t help to feel that a little common sense and five minutes of time could have prevented this tragedy.

That's wild. I had always walked the boat around the diversion dam, but thought floating over it looked pretty doable so I posted a question about it while back and received a couple replies, one saying you could float it, but stay left and the other saying they always walked it. Anyway I did the Wynoochee on Tuesday and decided to float over it and it was a total non-event. Didn't scrape and barely made a splash on the other side and had no trouble with the back eddy. I guess the difference might have been it was running about 1700 on tuesday and much higher yesterday. Very sad to hear about it.

I am sorry to hear that. I always get a little nervous when I am going over it. I always walk the boat around. That is horrible. Do you know how old he was? did the boat flip.
That is disturbing, it will make me think twice about going down the lower section in a hurry.
My thought are with him.

Where is this diversion dam? I've never been on the Nooch. But, was planning to try it in the near future and I guess it would be wise to know what to expect.

It's always tough to hear of a drowning; especially such a young person. Condolences to the family.

3 things to remember when driftboating over large drop 'reversal' waves - the first two are well known and simple enough. 1 - Wear a float coat or
lifevest. 2 - Keep the boat as straight as possible; which often requires a strong double oar pivot in the opposite direction the hydraulics are trying to turn you. The third one isn't as well known. 3 - Speed up your boat substantially by pushing hard before and just as you enter a strong hydraulic reversal wave. The extra momentum gives you a much better chance at busting thru and over the backwave. Those that enter slow and cautious more often get stuck and/or turned sideways; and that's when the boat can broach and roll over. ... If you aren't experienced in strong hydraulics then rope your boat thru until you learn by watching guides experienced at running these types of water. Be respective out there.

RT

The diversion dam, or spillway, is located a short distance above the takeout at Black creek. There is a spot to walk your boat around on the far left side and I spent many years walking around so I didn't have to deal with the hydraulic caused by the water dumping over the spillway.

The dam isn't even visible in higher water, but the hydraulic is still there, and gets stronger the higher the water gets. If you have ANY question, just walk around. There isn't any shame in walking around ANYTHING that makes you feel uncomfortable. There isn't a way to walk around some obstacles, but that's not the case with this dam. If you opt to row over the spillway.....get the boat lined up 90 degrees to it, and row hard downstream just before you get to the hydraulic and KEEP ROWING until you break loose from the undertow. It's pretty uneventful as long as you keep straight and don't get pulled back by the current.

I don't wear a floatation device as much as I should, but I get the feeling that carelessness may have been a factor in this case. Rivers and water in general are unforgiving when they are not given the proper level of respect. Without question the scariest things I've been through have been on the water. It's a shame when what should have been a fun day on the water turns to tragedy.

My thoughts are with the victims and their families.

Sad to read about this, my heart goes out to the victim's family, here is a link from the daily world.
http://www.thedailyworld.com/daily/2002/Feb-07-Thu-2002/news/news2.html

I have been over the spillway 4 times. I forget how deep it is below the spillway. Anyone one know?

Thanks for the url to the story. The water was running about 2000 at the time of the accident and if he had gone into it straight there probably wouldn't have been a problem. Judging from where the boat was stopped after overturning indicated that they were right in the center of the river. The water depth was about 8 to 12 feet deep right next to the cement and tapered off quickly. The peoblem of course was the suction keeps pulling you closer to the cement and you are unable to get away. If he had been 10 or feet below the cement he likely would have been able to reach shore as it gets shallow very quickly.
My thoughts go out to his family and friends I know how it feels to loose someone with no reasoning. I wish that I would have been closer or would have known that this was happening possibly the outcome would have been different.

I have taken many chances I shouldnt have. Been too lazy to find a place I knew I could cross and crossed in a place too deep and too fast. I got sucked down stream about 10 yards the other day because of this waist deep and too fast. I lost my footing and and then im floating. I think I need to be more carefull

Ii know the spillway quite well. My Dad's property is only aboout 75 yards upstream from it. Have floated over the spillway more times then I can count. RT was right on, you have to punch it when you go over it.

But I will add this. Like RT, I used to do aot of hardcore whitewatering (RT's was for hire I do believe, I was part of a small whitewatering club). A lifevest would've helped, but not a guarantee at all. I've seen a few people almost, or actualy drowned with class iii/V whitewater vests on. Hydraulics are nasty beasts. They are cool to ssurf, but you really have to have your head in the game while you're doing it. One wrong slip of your oars, and you'l be turning and flipping. Have seen 18' cats rol an flip from the pressure of a hydraulic. I'd ssume with the volume of water coming down the Nooch, I'm not sure a standard vest would've saved him ither, especialy if he had packs or breathables on. I have a couple of my class iii/V vests that I keep handy for certain rivers. Most people don't realize that certain vests aren't made for rivers, no floatation, just a slight bouyancy rating.

I do send my regrets to th families. I've personally have put a few friends into the ground from kayaking, rafting over the years. It's never easy, I just hope they haave plenty of support.

Diversion dams and weirs are are described in just about all books on whitewater boating/rafting as some of the deadliest obstacles one can encounter due to the nature of the hydraulic and the possibility of getting pinned, even with appropriate flotation devices. I'm sorry to hear of another frequently described tragedy.

Diversion dams and weirs are are described in just about all books on whitewater boating/rafting as some of the deadliest obstacles one can encounter due to the nature of the hydraulic and the possibility of getting pinned, even with appropriate flotation devices. I'm sorry to hear of another frequently described tragedy.

Jerry, that was L. Jerstadt Adventures that I guided whitewater trips for during the summers. But the toughest trips were with buddies doing crazy stuff during spring runoffs way up high on tough rivers. Young and a bit foolish; and a bit lucky. Here is one thing I heard about surviving heavy hydraulic spills that I won't take any responsibility for repeating - take this with your own proper skepticism ....

.... A top kayaker once told me that if a guy gets flipped out into a hard core reversal hydraulic trough and can't hold onto a boat, that yes, sometimes a lifejacket can keep you trapped there, or spinning just under it, longer than you can survive it. But I will take my chances wearing one for class 5 water. It would be a good idea to ditch fishing boots too. What he told us is that if you get stuck in a reversal and can't paddle and kick your way out to the side of it, and you keep getting sucked under and popped right back into the trough, struggle to get your lifejacket off, and with a big breath to hold, try to swim down into the trough of the 2 opposing currents as hard as you can for the bottom of the river where you can then swim under the reversal and pop up out below it. I hope to never have to try that out!!!

The whole situation is sad.What away to lose your little boy.MY CONDOLANCES TO THE FAMILY!

When I was a kid we used to just swim down the Natches river.It was more a back float with one knee pointed out and the other bent up.You would use them as bumpers.There was one spot that the river slammed into a huge rock and diverted to the left and went around the side of the rock.The river was unusally high one suumer and me and some buddies decided to swim it.I got pinned on the bottom up against that rock.I was stuck on the bottom flat against the rock.I remember opening my eyes and seeing this beautifull blue bubbly world.I can still see that picture as clear as a bell.I pannicked and tried to swim,crawl,up which of course was not possible.I remember getting reel calm all of a sudden and taking about three steps to the left and being shot straight up.I learned something about hydraulics that day!Thinking about it I think I am glad in that situation to not have a bulky style flotation device on.

I have had a similar experience when I was much younger, scared the hell out of me. When we are young we seldom run into things that really scare us and we don't understand how terribly fragile that life is.If we are lucky enough to get through one hopefully it brings us a little more knowledge to deal with the next crisis in life. I fell timber for 15 years without incident, taking chances every day until one day a log got me. Again I was lucky I lived. We often take things for granted and forget the possible outcome.