| Summary: | On the afternoon of June 6, 2006, 2 whitewater kayakers put in on the West Branch of the Ausable River near a drop called Monument Falls. Their plan was to run approximately 6 miles and take out at The Flume. The level was medium-high. Both were paddling river runner style whitewater boats. Both were local boaters and it is believed that they had paddled this section before. This section is listed as river reach #?s 1239, 3463, 3464, and 3465. It is described as being somewhere between class 4 and class 5. Squires? guidebook lists all 4 reaches as one run with Wilmington Notch as class 4/4+, class 5 at high water, with portages at High Falls Gorge and the Flume, with several class 4 and 5 drops in between.)
They portaged around Wilmington Notch and High Falls Gorge (their level of experience is not totally clear, while one non-paddling acquaintance described the victim as a class 5 boater, it appears that most of the local expert boating community did not know them). Shortly below the bottom of High Falls Gorge, they came to a class 4 drop. They planned to run this drop and then portage around a large class 5 about 200 yards downstream. Olivier Tardiff, 35, flipped in a hole in the class 4 drop, rolled up, and finished the drop backwards. His partner was on shore, filming his run (I?m not sure where this film went but don?t think it showed the accident). Tardiff ended up facing upstream in an eddy along an island immediately below the drop. He drifted out of the eddy backwards and into a strainer coming off the island into the main current at a shallow angle. The strainer had apparently been there for quite a while, it was stripped of bark and branches.
It is not clear how much of this his partner saw, but at some point he realized Tardiff was in trouble, returned to his boat, and paddled across to the island. He found Tardiff still in his boat, upside down and underwater. The boat was still facing upstream with the bow wedged against a rock and the stern under the strainer in 3-4? of water. Tardiff was laid across the back deck of the boat. It had taken between 5 and 10 minutes to get to Tardiff from the time he had gotten into trouble. His partner waded to the boat and tried to free it but could not. He then worked on freeing Tardiff, which was successful. Tardiff was not breathing. His partner began CPR and was able to get a cell phone call out for help. It took Forest Rangers approximately 1 hour to respond and rig ropes to the island the recover Tardiff?s body. The presumed cause of death is drowning.
Ben Bramledge
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| Detailed Description: | Victim (Tardif): Olivier Tardif, very experienced paddler (canoe), strong intermediate in kayak; Grade IV certification from the "Fédération québécoise du canot et du kayak"
Partner: Jean-Francois Lépine, very experienced kayaker
Tardif and Lepine, in addition to being experienced, were both safety-aware paddlers. Tardif was especially concerned with and aware of strainers. They had and wore the usual safety equipment, and knew how to use it.
The short story is that Tardif got caught under a log that was impossible to lift (too heavy), under which a paddler's body could pass, but not a kayak.
Here is a more detailed story: after running a rapid, Tardif stopped behind a low rock island, and went out of sight of Lepine, who could see his helmet, but not him. Tardif seemed to have stopped.
Lepine packed the video camera, and carried his kayak to the top of the latest rapid, to make another run. Lepine made another run, and found Tardif trapped under a log.
The accident happened in a channel to the left of an island, near the right shore, so on the island side. The log was clear from branches, about 18-24 inches of diameter, and almost parallel to the river. The current was not exactly straight, and was hitting the log at an angle. About half of the water was passing underneath the log, and the other half along the log and down the river. The water going along the log was constricted in a funnel a couple of feet below, between the log to the right, and a flat, rounded, submerged rock to the left.
It was not clear if that rock played a role in the accident. It may have blocked the boat and prevented it from continuing downstream, thus keeping it beside the log. Another possibility is that Tardif stopped in the very small quiet area upstream of the log, without paying too much attention to it, and then while taking back the current, turned and found himself right in front of the log, then became trapped.
Tardif was found unconscious, his kayak still pinned alongside the log, and he was under the log. His upper body had passed under the log, and he was twisted, looking up to the sky. We cannot determine for sure what happened. The most likely sequence of events is that:
1) he tried to avoid the log. Being aware of the danger, it is very unlikely but possible that he intentionally came to beach beside it.
2) when he found himself pinned, he lost balance to the rear of his kayak. Maybe he first tried to lean forward, or to lean on his paddle.
3) after losing his balance, he either tried to grab the (slippery) log, or to put his hand in the bottom of the river.
4) the water made a pillow over his upper body, and pushed it under the log.
5) at this point, we ASSUME that he did not try, or tried but did not persist, to come back on the same side, being aware of the force of water.
6) he tried to escape his kayak and/or to reach the surface of the water with his mouth. He could not escape the kayak, because his hips and legs were wedged between the kayak, pinned by water pressure, and the log.
Then Lepine found him, and had a hard time getting him out of his kayak, his body being wedged and twisted. It took about 3-4 minutes to take him out, according to the perception of Lepine.
After releasing Tardif, Lepine swam with him, and beached on the island about 50 ft downstream Lepine did CPR for little time, then ran back to the kayak to grab a watertight bag with a cell phone, and called 911 Lepine kept doing CPR while waiting for the rescuers. Lepine had no formal training in CPR
The rescue came after about 1 hour, according to Lepine's perception. Should have taken less time, since the Wilmington fire department was approximately 5 minutes away by car. There was a little bit more than 85 minutes between the 911 call, and the pronouncment of death at the scene.
After an helicopter went to locate Tardif and Lepine, a rescue team came. They started from Wilmington Notch Campground and Day Use Area (and hiked down a steep hill in clear forest with easy walk/run. Then they followed the riverbank for about 500 yds, put on drysuits, crossed the river while secured by ropes, and took over the care of Tardif.
Tardif was not evacuated until after death was pronounced, and his body was taken to Saranac Lake hospital late that evening.
Analysis-Comments
Paddler being out of sight from his partner (because of low island, as well as paddler not running the rapid at same time, etc) was contributing factor. Actually, we can never guarantee, for a group of 2 like for a large group, that this does not happen, but in a large group, matching paddler 2 by 2 and asking constant sight could have helped. I read about a similar concept of grouping people 2 by 2 in an avalanche book (applicable only to specific situations only in the context of avalanche-safety).
The rescue team (firemen of Wilmington) were well-prepared and equipped for safety and evacuation in general, but seemed to be unfamilair with the river environment. When I looked at the news video where a responsible member of the rescue team gives his version, he said "the water was very high", whereas according to Partner and gauge history, it was medium, and river could be crossed very easily at most places, by wading and without the help of any device and no risk of foot entrapment. Firemen had apparently used a not-so-simple setup of lines to secure people crossing to reach the island on which Tardif was.
Also, the firemen found the water cold, and took time to wear some wetsuits and/or drysuits. Obviously this was necessary in order to avoid having a large group of hypothermic people after 30 minutes. I think they could have asked one of them to cross immediately and reach the island, without a wetsuit/drysuit, with a PDF ideally, to take the situation under control for the first minutes, and then send this guy back to the warmth of a car/building as soon as the others would be ready. Also there is the fact that no matter how cold you are, you get quite warm, quite quickly performing CPR. In this matter, I prefer by far the rule of "keeping a ratio of 1:10 between the exposure to risk for the rescuers, and the victim", more than the bare rule of "preventing any other accident".
The week-end after the accident, we went to recover the kayak of Tardif, at same water level, and we could cross the river easily, including taking a non-waterproof camera in our hand. I guess it is easier for a non-paddler to under-estimate or over-estimate the force of current, and that is why the firemen kept on the safe side, being unused to estimating the relationship between the current, and the difficulty to cross. They also probably ignored the wading techniques (using pole or paddle, group wading, etc). This is a general comment about how the intervention time could have been improved, but I sincerely think that at this point, Tardif had spent too much time under water and could not be saved.
Although Tardif had probably spent too much time under water anyway, the fact that Lepine was not trained in CPR, and may not have been pumping the chest properly is a good reminder that all paddlers/outdoor sport people have at least a basic CPR course or study under their belt!
Personally, I have always escaped downed tree by either stopping, or keeping very far away. But logs like the one which killed Tardif, I would have tried to avoid, but sometimes ended up avoiding at last second, passing over with a good swing, or just sliding along, with some fear/caution, but no terror at all. What made this strainer very bad was its not-so-dangerous look. Look at how scary it is from downstream, and how benign it looks from upstream.
TEXT ATTACHMENTS
http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=4997677 (video)
http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=4998001&nav=4QcS
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13175206/
http://www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com/news/articles.asp?articleID=2926
http://www.pressrepublican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060607/NEWS/606070323/1001&ts=ts1 |
