Post #117499 by Sabu The Coconut Boy on Fri, Oct 1, 2004 11:59 AM

I was with family and friends on a 4-day whitewater rafting trip on the Salmon River, Idaho. I was paddling in the rear of my raft, the second of three large 15-foot rafts in our group with rowing cages in the middle of each one. There had been a record snow runoff from the mountains that Spring and many of the rapids were running a class above their normal rating, while others were much safer - the water being so deep over usually-exposed boulders.

We headed into the largest Class 5 rapid of the trip with enthusiasm, having had nothing but exhilarating success the previous 2 days. We watched the first raft go through safely, then we made our run.

Halfway through the run we were hit sideways by an 8-foot wave and were sucked into a giant 16-foot "hole" or whirlpool and there we stopped dead - huge waves rising and roaring on either side of us so that we couldn't even be heard shouting. Our oarsman heaved mightily but was unable to escape the pull of the hole.

I wrapped a rope several times around my arm and suddenly our 15-foot raft was bent in half like a giant clamshell closing. A woman in the front was crushed against the rowing cage and had all the skin on her leg scraped off - requiring skin grafts later at a hospital. The whole rear of the raft then got sucked under water an the last thing I could feel was the rope being ripped free of my arm like so much wet spaghetti.

I awoke from a strange dream where I seemed to remember being on a rafting trip with my family. It was very peaceful and quiet where I was. I was spinning slowly on my back at the bottom of the river, 20-feet below the whirlpool. I could feel the gravel below my back and see the bubbles of the surface far above me.

Suddenly I had an overwhelming need for air but could not seem budge myself one way or the other from the swirling current, which had me like a toy doll. I knew I was going to die and wondered how long it would take my family to find my body. Unable to hold my breath any longer, I took water into my lungs but my body rejected it violently - coughing it back out. All I could see was red.

Suddenly the current relented and I was sucked out of the whirlpool where my life vest propelled me back towards the surface. My head broke free of the water just as another giant wave slapped me back under before I could draw a breath. That was discouraging. But I could see light at the end of the tunnel and managed to hold my breath a bit longer.

When I finally did break the surface again, that first gulp of air was the sweetest thing I've ever tasted. Probably only a minute or two had passed since I first got sucked down, but it had seemed like a lifetime. I immediately remembered my training, and lay back in a sitting position with my legs in front of me and rode the rest of the rapid in my life vest. It was the most fun I had the entire trip - going over huge waves like a roller coaster.

I was picked up by the raft in front of us at the next calm spot in the river. We paddled to shore and managed to get a call out to an ambulance to pick up the poor woman who was injured in the front of our raft. I had lost both shoes in the experience, and had to spend the rest of the trip bare-footed.

My experience was no-where near as critical as Hehena Haole's- who actually drowned. I can say, however, that drowning is a horrible way to die - (having almost drowned twice) - and I sympathize with him greatly and am amazed he survived.

Sabu