TAKING A SWIM … AT THE WORST SPOT IN THE RIVER! By Steve Groetzinger For several seasons after my first run on the Gauley this river had a way of giving me the “butterflies” at the put-in. No sooner had I grown comfortable with this stream than in 1982 1 had the unsettling experience of helping to carry out the body of a kayaker who drowned in Initiation Rapid, the first major drop on the river. He had eddied out on river right just above the main drop, which Unfortunately feeds into a sluice which empties into a toilet bowl suckhole and disappears under a very large rock. This experience left me with put-in jitters for several seasons thereafter. It was a warm, sunny October morning in fall, 1989 and I was feeling very laid back as I climbed into my kayak and shoved out onto the Gauley River. Many of my paddling friends were here and Cindy, my wife of less than four months, was riding in a raft with several other friends on an accompanying commercial trip. The rafts headed downstream as we hardboaters played and acclimated ourselves to this wonderful river. As we approached Initiation, I was as comfortable as a human can be, chit-chatting with Bob Miller as we reached the top drop of the rapid. In an instant, my calm demure was totally destroyed when I realized that I was in the far right eddy above Initiation! My first thought was “How did I get here?” This is an absolutely horrible place to be and any idiot knows not to go near the right side! The fatal accident that happened here flashed through my mind. The boater and his boat were sucked vertically into the hole and under the rock, disappearing for the rest of the day. I figured the only thing I could do was to paddle hard and hope that I could bounce over that death trap hole. I realize that this strategy was a semi-failure as the front of my kayak slammed into the rock and pinned. The tremendous amount of water pouring over my back and neck created a three foot rooster-tail. My boat was slightly bent and the extreme water pressure was pushing me down into the boat, making it difficult for me to peel myself out of the cockpit. Nevertheless, it was easy to remain calm. I could breathe with no trouble and the water was particularly warm. So long as I made no sudden movements, by boat was not going to slip into that dreaded hole in the rock and my friends were going to get a rope to me. This rescue was not a simple task. Initiation is a steep drop with lots of weird currents at the bottom. There was only one skinny rock from which to throw a rope. Alex Harvey was amazing. He somehow paddled through a whirlpool, slithered up this steep rock and managed to throw a rope right to me. I gingerly pulled myself out of the boat, being cautious to not fall into any holes. This is where my luck really turned bad. The rock was unbelievably slippery and my feet came out from under me. I immediately fell into that hole that I was so worried about. I knew this was getting to be serious! At this instant, my brain went into that “supercomputer” mode that you hear about when people get into dangerous situations. In hindsight, this was the most amazing thing about this horrifying experience. Somehow, as if someone reprogrammed a portion of my brain to take control, every single synapse was energized with one goal in mind: survival. At this point, I was several feet under water and could not breathe. The water pressure was pushing down on my head with the force of a hurricane. Fortunately, I though, I still had the rope! I began to try to climb out of this hole in the rock but the force of the water was impossible to combat. I could not move. I stopped to think, still holding my breath. How could this happen? Was I trying hard enough? Did I not realize how important it was for me to get out of this thing? Remember what happened to that other guy a few years ago? I thought, “You just have to try harder, Steve”. I really tried with all my might this time but my efforts were absolutely fruitless. It was time to stop and think. If I panicked at this moment, it would be all over. Strength was not going to get me out of this predicament alive and I had to spend whatever time I had left thinking up a strategy. Something dawned on me. Maybe this is one of those dreams where at the last instant, I take a gasp and wake up. It sure seemed real but just in case, I tried to suck in a minute amount of water to test this hypothesis. The dream theory was wrong. This was the real thing. Suppose I just wait for the other guys to get onto the rock where Alex was holding the rope? With enough of them up there, surely they could pull me out of this. I began to wonder what they were doing up there and could only picture the pandemonium. But there was no way that they were going to get through that whirlpool and onto that little rock in time to pull me up alive. What was I going to do? I grew despondent. I began to feel sorry for myself and wondered how painful this was going to be. What were my friends thinking up there? What was Cindy going to say when she heard? How would she take it and what kind of fix am I leaving her in? What a jerk I must be. I threw away a pretty good life doing something stupid. Kayaking is great but it wasn’t worth this. All these thoughts probably happened over a span of thirty seconds, the longest thirty seconds I have ever known. Then a critical new idea came to me. Where does all this water go? It must come out somewhere! Why not just let go of this rope? Suppose the hole is smaller than me? I’d be finished for certain. Then again if I just hang on this rope, I will eventually pass out and I would rather try to squeeze through a hole in the rock when I am conscious. It became clear that this was my only choice. I would curl into a ball and let go of the rope. If I felt myself hitting rocks, I would try different positions and maybe one of them would produce the optimum shape to slip through this theoretical life-saving hole. I let go of the rope. Meanwhile, topside, Alex felt the rope suddenly slacken and pulling with all of his might, fell backwards off the rock. My friends told me he turned white as a sheet, thinking that the rescue attempt had come to a tragic conclusion. In an instant, I saw daylight. I flushed under the rock like a supersonic jet and this was the most beautiful sunlight I had ever seen. Unfortunately, this scene was not quite over. Upon exit from the rock, I got caught in a hydraulic and went for a long series of somersaults. In spite of this, I had a smile on my face. All I had to do is dive down and I’d be out of this thing. It worked and I was able to savor the tastiest breath of air I have ever known! The ordeal was over. I guess kayaking is worth it after all. Yes, I still enjoy the Gauley and no, I never get near the right side of Initiation. SOURCE: American Whitewater