On the afternoon of January 20, 2022, a group of 8 kayakers put in at bridge 1 on the Quijos river near Baeza, Ecuador to paddle the classic “Bridge to Bridge” section. They were all experienced kayakers, many of whom had spent years paddling the rivers of Ecuador and the world. The water level was at the upper end of a medium flow, well within the skill set of Jacob and the group as a whole; they were among many groups of kayakers to paddle that section that day. Jacob and many others in the group had paddled this section countless times over years traveling to Ecuador to kayak during the northern hemisphere winter. Jacob himself was here for the 3rd time.
At the “Split Rock” rapid Jacob Clark, one of the most skilled and experienced paddlers in his group, and a friend to so many people, swam after being caught in the hydraulic in the left channel. After the swim he was unable to get himself out of the river as he flushed into the next rapid. Despite ongoing efforts of his paddling group to help him to shore quickly he lost consciousness after roughly 2 minutes. Approximately 5 minutes later a member of the group was able to swim out and pull him to shore with the aid of a rope and another rescuer above the “Double Drop” rapid. He was not breathing and had no heartbeat upon being taken out of the river. Despite efforts of three rescuers administering CPR for 20 minutes and the Cuerpo de Bomberos of Baeza continuing for another 10 minutes upon their arrival, he was unable to be resuscitated.
Thank you so much to everyone involved who did everything they could to try to mitigate this tragedy:
-Everyone on the river that day
-Cuerpo de Bomberos de Baeza
-The greater kayaking community of Ecuador and the world who have reached out
No one affected by this will ever be able to thank you enough for you efforts.
Art Barket says: This section is a continuous class 4 run with Boulder garden rapids. It’s probably the most run section in Ecuador since it has easy access and close to the paddling home base in Baeza. It is also the cool down section for the Cheesehouse section upstream. The hole is probably midway though the run, where the water splits at a rock island. There are lots of holes out there if the water is up. I paddled this section in November. The rivers there change often due to frequent flash flooding.
