![\"Some](\"https:\/\/www.unsponsored.co.uk\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/22366837_10203958969610541_6315059404398541062_n.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThere\u2019s something incredibly humbling about having a bad swim. Yes there\u2019s the realizing the river\u2019s the boss, however much control you think you are in \u2013 but more in recognizing the support from those paddlers around you \u2013 some of whom you may not have even met before.<\/p>\n
This Saturday I took a dip on the Spillimacheen River in BC. It happens \u2013 I was due one, it\u2019s been a couple of years. But this one was different. I\u2019ve had other bad swims over the years, but with those, although I\u2019ve had other paddlers around, I\u2019ve played a part in my rescue. With this one, apart from the single act of keeping concious\/breathing there was very little I could do.<\/p>\n
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Learning point 1<\/strong><\/p>\n I was going to and should have got out and inspected. I hadn\u2019t been paddling much and although I know the river, I should have refreshed the line in my head. The reason I didn\u2019t, was that I wasn\u2019t paddling that confidently and wanted the boost that running a drop blind would give me. Yeah, wrong move.<\/p>\n The how and why I ended up swimming aren\u2019t important, but I ended up in a swirly eddy\/cave combo on the end of a rope. In my keeness to cling onto the line I didn\u2019t run it to the end, so there was still slack line behind where I was holding it. The slack wrapped itself around my leg, meaning that I couldn\u2019t climb up the rock wall to get out the water [and get air] and I couldn\u2019t let myself follow the current back upstream to the top of the eddy. I was caught in limbo unable to get enough breath to free the line from my leg.<\/p>\n Learning point 2<\/strong><\/p>\n Check your BA (PFD). Mine was a few years old and I’d been kinda thinking of getting a new one. Do it. Even those extra few mm of floats make a huge difference when you haven’t got them.<\/p>\n Learning point 3<\/strong><\/p>\n When holding a line, it\u2019s worth letting it run to the end so you are holding the bag end if you can. That surplus line behind you is a hazard \u2013 especially if you are in a ‘static’ situation rather than travelling downstream.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not sure how long I was in the cave. It felt like 5 minutes, it could have been way more or less. Either way, Ethan, who bagged me super quick, was on his own and couldn’t easily pull me in.<\/p>\n Learning point 4 <\/strong><\/p>\n It’s not always possible [as in this case], but if setting up safety, remember that it is WAY better to have two bodies to hold a line. Swimmers are heavy and footing is often precarious.<\/p>\n Things that went right.<\/p>\n The incredible support from the group. Ethan not only pulled me out and sat with me while I spewed up water and couldn\u2019t stand for 10 minutes \u2013 he pulled the boat out and stayed right by me all the way out of the canyon. Sean and Jason carried my boat up an incredibly shitty walk-out of the 500ft canyon for me \u2013 the whole group deciding to abandon their paddle and boats and lead me up to the road to make sure I was okay, before walking back down to continue.<\/p>\n Learning point 5<\/strong><\/p>\n I thought I knew the way back. I was saying I was fine to hike out and believed it. They had the wisdom to know better. In hindsight I wouldn\u2019t have found the road. It could have got ugly. Believe and trust your group.<\/p>\n So thanks again to Sean Mc Ternan, Ethan Shea Begley, Jason Metcalfe. I will do my utmost to pay it on. I owe you guys.<\/p>\n Paddle safe.<\/p>\n Words & Images: Dave Bland<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There\u2019s something incredibly humbling about having a bad swim. Yes there\u2019s the realizing the river\u2019s the boss, however much control you think you are in \u2013 but more in recognizing the support from those paddlers around you \u2013 some of whom you may not have even met before. This Saturday I took a dip on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[112,6753,6752,6754,6751,6755,1783,14],"class_list":["post-25888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uns","tag-bc","tag-dave-bland","tag-david-bland","tag-lessons","tag-some-lessons-learned-from-a-swim","tag-spillimacheen-river","tag-swim","tag-whitewater"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nI had never met Ethan before.<\/p>\n