Accident Database

Report ID#69229

2001-04-10
accident date
Samuel Gillis
victim
35
victim age
Grand Rive
river
n/a
section
n/a
location
>18,000
gage
Flood
water level
V
river difficulty
Equipment Trap
cause code(s)
Does not Apply
injury type(s)
Cold Water, High Water, Inexperience
factors
Private
trip type
Whitewater Kayak
boat type
status?
status

Description

The following two reports both center on two marginally experienced solo paddlers who were way out of their depth on high water rivers. On April 10th on Ontario’s Grand River a strange scene unfolded. Kevin Suweski and John O’Leary forwarded material describing what happened. With the river flooding (It was running more than 18,000 cfs; a normal run is about 600 cfs) Samuel Gillis, 35, launched his kayak into the current and flipped on the eddyline. He was not wearing any cold water gear, and he had tied himself to the kayak with a PFD tow harness. He floated downriver until the harness became snagged in a tree. Firefighters responded, but could not reach him easily. By the time they got him to shore he was dead of hypothermia. CW