Bull Sluice Pin on Chattooga from www.solgear.com

Read more at www.solgear.com/Videos.html on this one of a kind raft recovery by Mike Peacock at Bull Sluice on the Chattooga River. We are welcoming comments relating to river rescue and what can be learned from this video.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Swiftwater
• Whitewater
• River
• Rescue
• Raft
• Pin
• Wrap
• Chattooga
• Bull
• Sluice
• Mike
• Peacock
• Snuffy
• Scotty
• Solgear

[MrGoodpliers1]

A couple of things... I would not allowed what looked like paying customers to stand right there while the z-drag was going on in case a D-ring popped. The raft on decap could have been bailed shortly after the z-drag on it was started as it was no longer taking water. Needeless wear and tear/danger from z-drag.

[SolgearMan]

@MrGoodpliers1 Agreed that customers should have their risk minimized. In this case, everyone was a guide. And while d-rings did pull (I think at least five), there wasn't a z-drag set up. There was simply enough muscle power. Enough to pull off d-rings. And agree, reduce the amount of water in the raft on decap rock to make it lighter creating less force to pull it off, or maybe stand on the rock and help push. A better anchor system to the d-rings may have saved a few as well.

[SolgearMan]

So to all future posts:

I think we can all agree that the above stunt is dangerous. You can attack those in the video as stupid all you want, but it would be great if there is some meat to a post that helps someone learn about real rescue technique in the river. That was the point in posting this video. I wouldn't have run Bull Sluice like that, but I probably would have had to sit and wait for the river to release my raft from the rapid on its own. We can all learn from other's mistakes.

[bdalton02]

Going over Bull Sluice period is dangerous, and everyone who's ever run the river knows that rock is there. There's been tons of things (including people) that have gotten caught right there. Riding the bull over the rapid isn't the dangerous part, hitting the hole in the wrong spot is where they went wrong.

[SolgearMan]

Point taken and conceded. This is dangerous, but is it stupid? I would agree with you that they did not hit the intended line. But I might not be so quick to agree that riding the bull over the rapid isn't dangerous. Because like you point out, people have died there and even though risks can be mitigated, they can not be eliminated... which is why millions of people have paid to ride that bull.

[lastcall808]

These people obviously have no respect for water, I doubt any of these guys could tell you the exact weight of a square foot of freshwater. I read your comment about 90 on the freeway blah blah, 1st of all that is why the speed limit 55-70. If you did this same act everyday for lets say 14 years, like drivingon the highway......1 of you guys would be saying aloha. Haoles lol.

[SolgearMan]

Those of us who know how manage risk in swiftwater are aware of the danger... that is why we do it.  Oh yeah... everyone in that video has been doing it longer than 14 years and know the forces created by "moving water" that isn't so fresh. And by the way, lastcall808, a square foot of water has no weight... those who understand water measure a cubic foot... we even factor in time... it is called CFS!

[coloRADodanimal]

that's nothing like the arkansas, i think i wanna learn chatooga boating

[sw3210]

alls well that ends well, good learning experience and thank you for sharing that with us. loved it, demostrates river dynamics so well.

[profyost]

I ran sweep for a group of novice kayakers on sec. 3 (at about 1.7 ft, I think), and watched in disbelief as the trip leader, a reasonably experienced paddler, FORGOT Bull Sluice was there, leading the entire group into the rapid instead of the portage spot. One kayak ended up on decap rock. The leader ran the sluice upside down and broke his glasses. On the other hand, these people seem to mostly know what they're doing. I've known a number of SEE guides who were all real experts.

[christrippbarker]

bucket boats are a bitch

[blueapollo421]

ps that was bad ass

[blueapollo421]

wow i have never heard of anyone putting a raft right on top of decap like that, i know a few guides on the chattooga with the balls to do something like that.

[fvoisard]

@lastcall808

the exact weight of a square foot of water is 0, on the other hand a cubic meter of water is 1000kg. from my river experience, the rescue was swift. the only thing i would have done differently would have been to empty the second boat once they limited the water uptake, it would have been much easier to slide off the rock.

[KillerKyah]

The time I went over Bull Sluice, our raft got caught at the bottom. It was bent into a V and filling with water fast. Our guides got us out to safety and we were able to continue our trip with no problems. The crews that work on these rivers know what they are doing and what to do in case something doesn't go as planned. I now have photos and great memories from my white water excursion. I'd love to go over it again and see what it's like when things go right.