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Brought this over from the buzz....thought you'all would like to make fun of the sheriff who was, apparently, desperate to take his chopper out that afternoon too. I just don't understand why the guys on the rock didn't throw a life jacket and piece of webbing around the kid and then yank him onto their rock. it would have been safer, less expensive, and over with in 5 minutes.
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-...nclick_check=1
I am pissed off that the taxes I pay go to support these morons and their expensive toys.
While on the one hand you can argue that it is good practice for the Helo guys to be able to pull a rescue off like that.
but then you see how close the guys were to him at the end and think holy shit, just reach over and grab him while attached to a rescue vest.
What is downstream of that?
I never saw them put a life jacket on the victim or any other pfd. I am not being critical of this decision, it's just that I don't understand why they wouldn't take that step.
Wow, that rescue was probably more dangerous than the situation the kid put himself into. Maybe there was a small low-head damn danger right below that rock, but I couldn't see any reason a throw rope wouldn't have worked. What a waste.
Weird. Our protocol for when we should or shouldn't use the heli definitely would have ruled it out in that case. I love that the rescuer at the end of the rope didn't have a PFD on either.
hey, why not spend $2800/hr to play with your toys.
1. reach
2. throw
3. row
4. go
5. helo
oops
Ridiculous
That is just up the street from me and I agree, it's ridiculous. But, in their defense, ~270 folks have died on that section of river since they started keeping track...I think in 1980 or so. So they are definitely paranoid and extremely cautious. But still...why not just grab him from rock? Fat sheriffs with no whitewater experience but have taken a swiftwater rescue class at some point make silly decisions. This is not the first one.
emergency water rescues can go terribly wrong once victim has made physical contact with rescuer, panic creates a variable that can be deadly to a rescue attempt in swift or cold water.
the men on the rocks appear to be improperly equipped as well as poorly trained.
I really like sailing kayak very much