An early start had my mate and I on a river bank just after dawn. About minus 3 and no sun yet to be seen. We were looking for Chamois or deer and planning on using the packraft to recover anything from the far side. Soon a Chamois Buck was spotted and as the river wasn't that large, a shot rang out and he slumped into a gutter. Great! We made our way down to the river and worked out a recovery plan. The area had a heap of bluffs down stream that would make coming back harder, but there was a pool upstream of a rapid with a good beach. The only issue being that you could not prevent hitting the head of the rapid at some point. We are only talking a 15-20 meter crossing, so our plan was to attach the rope, Dan would cross as fast as possible while I played out the rope, and then he'd load up the Buck and I would assist him back across and back too the beach with the rope.
Shoes off, boat pumped up tight, life jacket on and in he went. And that's right where it first went wrong, as the current was exponentially more powerful than we expected or had come across before. Into the rapid he went and the 45 meters of rope was ripping through my hands so fast I had to let it go. I yelled a warning but before either of us could do much, the rope caught, and came tight. The boat instead of swinging against the bank, went straight under and the back ripped out of it and Dan was now at the mercy of the current. The last I saw of him, he was approaching a log jam.

I bashed my way along the bank, but he had disappeared and My fear was he was under the logs. Turned out he had gone under but had popped up downstream and made it too some rocks out of my sight.
Working through the situation I knew I needed to to check the logs and if I couldnt find him, Id call emergency. So a few minutes later I was relieved to get a call to say he was out of the river.

I went back and retrieved the rifle and boots etc, and hurried back to the carpark, started up the engine and turned the heaters on and sorted some dry clothes. Was no use trying to find him in the bush, So I waited getting shit ready, until he called me again and told me he'd reached the roadside, where I soon picked him up, bare legged, one sock missing and unable to feel his toes.

A really lucky escape and a learning experience for us both.

Glad no one was hurt!

Yeah. It was a massive relief when he rang me.

Bloody hell mate, close call Glad to hear he's ok.

That sounded close, lucky escape indeed.

So glad that turned out OK in the end. Scary situation to be in.

Pete

That could have easily been a horror story. I'm glad that it all worked out.

We got pulled over By a cop on the way home, Nothing major, car was due for a warrant of fitness and was all ready booked in, But he is a keen hunter too, so were chatting on roadside for half hour and told him what happened. His comment, Glad your both here as the paperwork on that one would have wrecked my day.

quote:

Originally posted by shankspony:
Yeah. It was a massive relief when he rang me.

Lucky he wasnt caught in the jam and the phone survived the drink obviously.

Yeah. We both use waterproof phone cases, and its really good knowing they work.

I had no idea that there is such a thing,its smart to buy one if you are doing your kind of stuff there.

A must have for Westland really, even if you dont intend to go in a river.

my 6mm full wet suit is a better option lol