There was a death at Shipwreck Rock on Sept. 9. A commercial raft running the right line bumped a rock and a 63 year old woman fell out and washed towards the undercut. Lenora Doyle had rafted the Gauley previously. Several rafts attempted rescue, but could not reach her without endangering their crew. They shouted to her to swim towards them, but there was no response. She washed into shipwreck Rock and was pulled under and pinned. Her life vest stayed on throughout the swim. To date Her body has not been recovered.
From Dave Bassage, Tripleader: The swimmer yesterday came from a guided raft that entered river right. The take home lesson is that things can go wrong whichever side you enter in Shipwreck Rapid, so run the line you feel most confident with, and if you end up in the water, swim hard toward the closest shore to avoid the cave under Shipwreck Rock. I was there when it happened. Everyone involved did absolutely everything they could to prevent this tragedy.
Recent Fatalities on Gauley River
Reddit thread comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/whitewater/comments/16es8uo/recent_fatalities_on_gauley_river/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
Unfortunately I was in the raft on the second fatality on September 9th. Sadly I forgot her name, she was sitting last row in the rear on left side. Idk river left or river right but when we were nearing shipwreck about 200-300 ft away she suddenly fell out. She was thrown 30 ft in front of the boat within a second. We wanted to go right of shipwreck but she was heading right for the middle and slightly right we raced to grab her. Nobody was close enough it happened so fast we paddled as hard as we could to get to her then she was sucked under. Everyone on my boat gave it their all to save this woman, we all knew how serious this was.
This was not the guides fault. NEO (the guide) was great the whole time and carried out conversation with her the entire trip until that point. If any questions please feel free to ask it may jive a bad memory that someone may need to know.
She was doing great the whole trip. She was talking to the guide the entire time.I think she panicked and wasn’t confident in what to do. She only had about 20 seconds to do anything she even looked at us for direction but never tried to swim. I highly doubt she realized the severity of where she was heading. The company did a great job of explaining possible situations before our trip and also before every drop. Reminding everyone which direction to go in case anyone goes swimming.
I knew Lanora personally, she was from Highland Co. Virginia. She loved doing adventurous new things. I am at a loss as to why she froze up if she was told to swim, she was a good swimmer. She leaves behind a son, 2 sisters and her precious grandchildren whom she adored. We have been told her body has not been recovered and is still under the rock and may not be recovered until the water levels lowers. Breaks our community's heart as we are a very small populated county, so we all know each other. As for the surprise cake I'm sure that is true, but it was not her birthday, she was a chef and sure that was for the group, just the way she was, loved feeding people.
I was in the 1st raft out of the 6 for that time slot on the 9th. My group had parked in the Eddy on the right side of the boat. Unfortunately I didn't see what had caused her to fall, but the whistles had blown the second she did.
She did nothing once she fell out of the boat except clutch her life jacket. Multiple boats had attempted to grab her, one had thrown a line while another chased after her. Neither attempts to grab her were able to get close enough on time. There were other rafts in the way so my boat was unable to do anything but watch.
I believe she was in shock. Multiple parties were yelling at her to swim, but she just floated to her demise. She had maybe 10 seconds to plan out an escape route and execute it. She hit the center of the big rock and got sucked into the undercut underneath. Due to the nature of that rapid, it is very difficult to stage a rescue or pull her out if she had managed to grab a rope.
The boats stayed there for about 40 minutes to an hour waiting for an officer to arrive and take over the scene. Once they did, we left and carried on to the next available dock and departed. I have not named the company due to my belief on it not being there fault.
Likely causes of incident:
- Old age
- Lack of experience
- No attempts to rescue oneself
- In shock
As far as I've gathered from the other groups that were there, this is what I've heard about her:
- In her 60's
- Came alone, no one else there knew her.
- Was here on her birthday, rumored to have a cake at the lunch spot.
I am very sorry this happened to her, her family, and the rest of your group. As someone that’s gone through similar events with undercuts while guiding I know the pain that affects you and everyone at the accident. Hopefully the company is bringing in some professionals to help you manage the storm of emotions you are going through.
