Accident Database

Report ID# 2261

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  • Caught in a Natural Hydraulic
  • Hypothermia
  • Other

Accident Description

Published April 28, 2007 11:15 pm
An avid kayaker had to be rescued from the Saranac River in Redford
Friday after he lost control and started spinning.

Kayaker rescued from river

By RYAN HUTCHINS
Contributing Writer

REDFORD, NY -- An experienced kayaker had to be rescued Friday evening after going over an eight to 10 foot waterfall and being pulled into something similar to a whirlpool. Frank Lampman, 33, was kayaking with a friend in the Saranac River along Silver Lake Road when he was pulled into a "hole" and could not recover. "It kept pushing him upstream and spinning him around," Saranac Fire Chief Don Uhler said Saturday evening. After trying for several minutes to free himself from the spin, his friend pulled him from the kayak and onto an island 75 feet from the shore, Uhler said. His friend then secured Lampman to a tree with rope and left for help.

Uhler and assistant chiefs T.J. Strack and Shawn Emerson established a rope system and were able to get Lampman to shore just before dark. He was conscious at that point but needed hospitalization. "He was truly exhausted, hypothermic and in need of medical care," Uhler said.

The chief said the river rapids at that location were class three or class four -- with class six being the most dangerous.  "He was a very avid kayaker, he was very well prepared," Uhler said.He credited Lampman's friend with making all the right moves, and said Lampman may not have lived if he stayed on that island until morning. "Had that gentlemen had to spend that night up on that island he would have been in some very grave condition this (Saturday) morning," Uhler said. "If he survived at all."

http://www.pressrepublican.com/archivesearch/local_story_118231555.html

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