The unseen power of water

By PAUL DELANEY

Staff Reporter

You can lead an idiot to water but it is exceedingly difficult sometimes to make them safe.

This play on words of a long-standing axiom regarding horses and hydration came to mind recently after learning a group of what appeared to be 20-something “rafters,” or “tubers” — depending on the media source — had to be rescued from the Spokane River June 3.

Had this been a story that happened in July or August when river levels are more benign, maybe it would not be worth noting.

But the river was rolling along at a pretty feisty 16,000 cubic feet per second. The best way to give perspective to that number is referencing a chart that took the weight of a cubic foot of water and compared to, of all things, an elephant.

It’s provided a wonderful, and largely ignored lesson of the pure hidden power of water. At 7.5 gallons, a cubic foot of water weighs in at 62.5 pounds. A mature bull elephant tips the scales at 10,000 pounds.

Do the math and 1,000 CFS equals the weight of six grown pachyderms. So imagine the size of the herd that kept three of the four guys, who were “Just trying to have some fun,” trapped in a tree yards from shore just below Peaceful Valley. The fourth floater, identified only as Cody in a KHQ News report, was separated from the group but thankfully found his way to shore.

The one unifying thing for each was that NONE were wearing a lifejacket, or personal flotation device (PFD). But when Cody was interviewed following the Spokane Fire Department’s water rescue team snagging his buds out of the tree, the lesson learned was to have the right gear the next time they hit the river.

Having been a whitewater enthusiast for nearly 40 years now, I’m the first to admit that when my three friends and I set off on the Grand Ronde River in 1980 in our dime-store plastic rafts, we at least had lifejackets, if the cheesy orange rings with the waist and crotch strap can be called that.

But maybe like Cody and his friends, we too did not like the idea of them interfering with enhancing future chances of contracting skin cancer with two days of over-the-top sunburns.

It didn’t take but a year with the purchase of my first professional raft to start the practice of making sure the lifejacket was as much a part of the water wardrobe as is a helmet, today.

And my first “swim” — as we refer to getting suddenly tossed into a raging river — that occurred in 1994 on Idaho’s Moyie River in high spring flows, further solidified my belief in the power a few pounds of foam wrapped in tough nylon has in fending off those “elephants.”

There have been a few times since then, like the sudden swiftness of an automobile accident, where I have found myself flailing to keep my head above water, but knowing my gear would help secure my survival.

The incidents of tragic drowning’s most often come with the postscript of, “the victim(s) was not wearing a lifejacket.” It’s similar at the scene of some fatal car crashes where seatbelt usage might have saved a life.

And sometimes, as a quick study of nearly 60 drowning deaths on rivers in 2016 that were reported to American Whitewater will show, even the best-prepared who hit the water, are sometimes not saved.

Rarely are those for lack of a PFD, but rather the power of those “elephants” simply stripping this lifesaver away.

The general public rarely ever has the opportunity to become a crash-test dummy, as have I in a couple of swims through Class IV Lochsa Falls, and get to talk about it. The experience is as exhilarating as it is scary. But in the end it is a priceless education and a trip that hopefully only takes about the same few seconds a bull rider needs to earn his score.

Hopefully Cody and his buds learned their lesson last Saturday?

Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.