: I can’t sleep tonight, so rather than just replay the day and the accident over and over in my mind, I though that writing down what happened might help. Maybe knowing more of the facts will help some of you who knew John Stoffle. We attempted the Wild Plum Run (IV/IV+) on California ‘s North Fork of the Yuba River on June 19, 1999. We were a strong group of eight competent paddlers. None of us had made the run before and several were boating near our limits, but we were all comfortable with the river. It was a beautiful day, fairly hot, and the cold water was refreshing. The river starts out with stomping Class IV for the first few miles. There were eddies where they were needed, and the river felt manageable. John missed a few lines, flipped a few times, and missed a few rolls, but seemed to be OK. At our first break, I remember him saying something about being a bit tired and wishing he’d brought more food. I gave him part of my sandwich and something to drink. One of our group thinks he may have seen a new crack on John’s helmet. The next two or so miles were continuous Class IV/IV+ with occasional breaks of fast moving Class II/III. There were a fair number of eddies, and the group, while sometimes spreading out a bit, kept together and scouted where necessary. In this section John missed many of his first rolls, but always made his second or third. During our second break John was laughing and joking around. He did say one thing that maybe should have rang some alarm bells. When I asked him to compare the Kyburz run on the American to this river he said, “Well, I’m having a bad day today, ask me on a good day.” Below here the river eased up somewhat, but we still encountered tough rapids. John elected to carry two rapids in this section that most of us ran. Once he was the only one to portage. Eventually the river eased considerably to fast-moving Class II/III. The group quit catching so many eddies and we spread out a little more. The last time I saw John upright, I passed a strainer that extended half the river. I was drifting backwards through an easy rapid, to see that everyone got past it. John was running last. In the time I drifted backwards, the first four paddlers caught up and ran the next Class III rapid. I eddied out just above it to wait for the others. Then I heard a whistle. In the deep canyon I first thought the sound was coming from downstream. I looked downstream and even moved down one eddy. Then I heard shouting from upstream “HE’S OUT OF HIS BOAT!” At first I was confused , because I knew he couldn’t see any more than I could what was happening downstream. Then I heard him clearly, “JOHN’S STILL IN HIS BOAT!, HE’S IN HIS BOAT!” I saw his boat coming toward me upside down. Two paddlers were trying to bulldoze it to shore before it went down the next Class III rapid. I ferried across the river, left my boat, jumped in the river, grabbed his boat, and pulled it into shore. John was unresponsive. He was not breathing, had no pulse, and there was evidence of severe head trauma. I screamed for help. We started CPR with difficulty as soon as we had his boat stable, then moved him to shore. After about five minutes two members of the group continued CPR while I climbed a steep cliff to the road to get help. A motorcyclist with a cell phone drove up the hill to call 911. A woman from a passing car scrambled down the hill and assisted with CPR. She left before I had a chance to thank her. Twenty minutes after we pulled John from the river the rescue squad arrived. By that point, unfortunately, John had passed away. SOURCE: John Lester, posting to rec.boats.paddle On June 19th a group of 8 strong paddlers met in Downieville, CA, for a run down the North Fork of the Yuba. According to a report from John Lester, a member of the group, the first half of this challenging Class IV run passed without difficulty. But John Stoffle, a member of the group, was flipping a lot and missing his first roll attempts. He told the others he was feeling tired and having a bad day. After lunch Stoffle flipped in a long Class III stretch. He did not bail out or even struggle. The group , working together, pushed Stoffle and his boat into an eddy with some difficulty. They pulled him onto shore and began CPR. There was evidence of severe head trauma, leading everyone to suspect that he hit his head and was knocked out cold despite his helmet. Others in the group climbed to a nearby road, flagged down a motorcyclist with a cell phone, and notified authorities. Although rescue personnel arrived with remarkable speed, by the time they reached Stoffle, he was gone. As this was the second incident this year involving a suspected head injury, it also makes an important point. Many of the helmets being used on the river today don’t offer paddlers enough protection, and there are few improved models available. Fashion, not safety, seems to be the main focus. We need to encourage manufacturers to develop models which offer superior coverage and shock absorption, and then use them! ANALYSIS: (Lester) I can’t make sense of this. It was an easy section of river. Nobody saw what happened. We didn’t find his paddle, or see him flip, or watch him hit a rock. Maybe he had a heart attack, maybe he bashed his head and got a concussion, maybe he drowned. Maybe, maybe, maybe! What makes this difficult for me is that we did everything right! We were a strong group, boating together safely. We didn’t take unnecessary risks. John wore a good PFD, a Kevlar helmet with ear coverage, and his boat was reasonable for the run. The two things did come out in our discussions later that night were: 1. His helmet had only a thin (1/4 inch) layer of minicell foam inside it. Perhaps that was insufficient to absorb the head blow? 2. Attentiveness to members of our group: We were not boating as close together at that point as we might have. Many of us recognized him as the weakest (though not by much) boater that day, and we shouldn’t have allowed him to slip into the sweep position. in hindsight, We should have been more attentive to some of warning signs we recognized. Accidents can happen any time, anywhere! Are you current with your River rescue, First Aid, and CPR? You really know when you’ll need it. Your day can go from blissful to a life threatening in a second. Please be prepared.