Level 3: River Safety & Rescue

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Course Overview

The River Safety and Rescue workshop teaches recognition and avoidance of common river hazards, execution of self-rescue techniques, and simple rescues of paddlers in distress. Emphasis is placed both on personal safety and on simple, commonly used skills. Fundamental techniques for dealing with hazards that carry greater risks for both victim and rescuer, such as entrapments, and pins, also are taught.

PFD designed for whitewater use, whitewater helmet, protective clothing suitable for extended swimming in cold water, protective footwear, boat, paddle, whistle and throw rope.

NOTE: The CCA brings a gear bag with lots of extra prusik cords and climbing webbing for knot tying practice.

This is a one day class to be taught on rivers up to class II rapids.

ACA Official Curriculum: Level 3: River Safety and Rescue

Introduction, Expectations, & Logistics	Rescue Philosophy
Welcome, introductions, paperwork	Accident avoidance and proactive rescue
Student & instructor course expectations and limitations	Accident timeline
Course itinerary & site logistics	Prevention and “what if…?” strategy
Review waiver, assumption of risk, challenge by choice, medical disclosure	Prior planning for accident management
About the ACA	Priorities
PFD policy (always wear on water)	Me, my group, bystanders, the victim
Appropriate personal behavior	Simple and fast to complex and slow
No alcohol / substance abuse	Liability and Ethical issues
Proper etiquette on & off the water	Trip Organization
Respect private property	Lead and sweep
Practice Leave No Trace ethics	Know the group, the river and the weather
The Paddling Environment	Plan the trip and communicate the plan
Wind	Scene Management
Waves	Locate, access and assess, stabilize and transport
Weather	Prioritizing the rescue
Water	Most rescues performed quickly, without a formal structure
Personal Preparation	Larger groups and longer rescues often need more structure
Personal Ability	Incident Command structure
Swimming Ability	Leader
Water comfort & confidence	Safety
Fitness, conditioning, and warm up	Rescuer
Safe paddle and boat handling	Complete the rescue without compounding the situation
Safety and rescue considerations	Communication (AW signals)
Personal equipment (reviewed by Instructor)	Hand and whistle signals
	Cell phone or radio if appropriate
	Medical Issues
	This is NOT a first aid class; perform medical care to your level of training
	Don’t make the situation worse
	Obtain more training; calling 911 is rarely an effective option
	Rescuers need to be able to handle common medical problems including hypothermia, drowning, cuts and scrapes, and dislocations/broken bones
	CPR and Wilderness First Aid skills are essential for rescuers

Equipment	Water Hazards and Hydrology
Protection from rocks and water	Rivers are powerful, predictable and persistent
Shoes, helmet, PFD	Subjective vs. objective hazards
Thermal Protection	Poor judgment can be fatal
Wet suit vs. dry suit, wool vs. synthetics, avoid cotton in cold/wet conditions	River hazards don’t care if you don’t recognize them
Personal rescue gear	Flooding dramatically increases risk
Boat, paddle, whistle, throw rope, knife, saw, first aid kit, rescue PFD	Water reading (upstream and downstream Vs)
Group rescue gear	Eddies and eddy lines
Specific needs depend on the river paddled and local weather	Waves
Survival equipment	Hydraulics
Specific needs depend on the river paddled and local weather	Strainers
Throw Ropes	Horizon lines
Selection based on rope material, diameter, and length	Undercut rocks, broaching rocks
Advantages and disadvantages of traditional bags, waist bags, coiled lines	Foot entrapment risks
Care of the rescue rope
Avoid sun exposure, keep clean, avoid stepping on the line, avoid sharp or rough edges
When in doubt, replace the line
Rope Safety
Avoid standing over lines, avoid tensioning lines perpendicular to current, keep your body out of loops in the line, consider clean line techniques, keep entire rope in bag to avoid accidental deployments
Throwing and recovery zones
Consider where the victim will land, don’t make their situation worse
Types of throws
Over-arm (football and arc), underarm, side-arm
Deploying less than full length for close targets
Factors impacting an accurate throw
Rope length and diameter, brush and trees, footing, distance to target, cold hands, practice
Receiving the rope
Hold over your shoulder, with hands on your chest and elbows tucked into stomach
Rope should sit on the shoulder opposite the target shore (to set ferry angle)
Belay techniques
Hip belay, sitting, buddy, dynamic, tree
Line on downstream side
Coiling and rethrowing
Vector pull to assist landing
Stuffing techniques
Multiple swimmers
Figure 8 knot and figure 8 on a bight

Swimming	Pins
Essential self-rescue tool	Avoid getting pinned or entrapped by recognizing hazards
Safe eddy rule, don’t try to stand in swift current	Pin mechanics
Defensive and aggressive swimming	Balance between gravity, friction, and force of water
Breathing techniques	Types of pins
Defensive to aggressive transitions	Vertical, center broach, end to end, pinch pin
Crossing eddy lines	Release by unbalancing forces
Ferry techniques	Tag line on boat for recovery after release
Swiftwater entries	Consider what happens when the boat releases
Modified belly flop; head and feet up, impact on the PFD	Stabilization line to support trapped victim
Set ferry angle	Self rescue
Set ferry angle	Avoidance, high side to avoid inverting, wiggle off the rock, bail out
Handling strainers, holes and drops (discussion)	If all participants are safe, waiting for low water may be a viable option
Wading	Entrapment
Safe eddy rule	High risk; hands-on rescue places rescuers near the entrapping object
Swim instead of fighting for marginal footing	Avoid by hazard recognition, appropriate swimming techniques, and appropriate outfitting
Water depth, water speed, bottom conditions affect performance	Most commonly foot entrapments, strainers, or trapped in a boat
Maintain balance	Keep victim heads up with stabilization line
“Look with your toes”	Snag line to release foot entrapments
One person with paddle/prop
Two person
Boat-based rescue
Often fastest and easiest technique for boaters, but potentially high risk
Many uses for boats
Ferries for people and equipment
Tool to sprint for help
Paddle recovery
Throw, two paddles in hand, put in your boat
Boat recovery bulldozer or shove
Set a ferry angle
Self rescue
Hold boat and paddle in one hand when swimming with gear
Set a ferry angle
Boat stays downstream of victim
Swimmer rescues and assists
Assisting victims back into boats
Strengths and limitations of canoes, kayaks and rafts
Stern and bow tows

Scenarios	Resources
Managing common river problems, including multiple swimmers and loose gear	Whitewater Rescue Manual (Walbridge and Sundmacher)
Debriefing to reinforce rescue priorities	Swiftwater Rescue (Ray)
Conclusion & Wrap Up	River Rescue (Bechdel and Ray)
Group debrief / Individual feedback	Heads Up! (video)
Course limitations	Whitewater Self Defense (video - Ford, Walbridge and DeCuir)
Importance of First Aid & CPR	River Safety Reports (Walbridge)
Importance of additional instruction, practice, experience
Importance of appropriate level of safety & rescue training
Demo advanced maneuver
Life sport / Paddling options
Local Kayak Clubs
Handouts / Reference materials
ACA Membership forms
Course evaluation
Participation cards

Level 3: River Safety and Rescue

Article Index

Course Overview

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