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When I flip my raft; my first goal is to hold on to and stay with my boat, is really the first rule of raft-guiding, stay with your boat, you are way more effective in rescuing if you can stay with the boat, cause ya need it and it is the perfect rescue platform. Getting on the bottom of the boat is your second task at hand; you should definitely practice in flat-water with your boat before it happens to you in current; some raft floor designs can be impossible to get on the bottom of, without prior planning. What I mean by that, is that with some rafts you'll want to run a strap through the floor and across the bottom of the boat, so you'll have something to pull yourself up with; otherwise you may find yourself relying on plan B which is to swim and drag your boat into an eddy, which in big water can be exhausting. The draw-back to running a strap is that you can risk damage to the raft or accident by the strap snagging on a something in low-water conditions, I only use such type straps on particular rafts at particular levels, ya gotta weigh the risks and have some sense about it, I usually locate the strap near the rear of the raft closer to where I sit, I've actually dry-flipped several times on slow flips by reaching over the tubes and grabbing the strap in mid-flip.
So upon flipping, hold on to the boat, hold on to your paddle, get out from under the boat, throw your paddle on to the bottom of the raft, pull your self on to the bottom of the raft, do a head-count-triage assessment of your situation. At this point, you may choose to simply use your flip-strap and re-right your boat; you may choose to quickly pull your passengers on to the bottom of the boat- is what I usaully do- especially in shallow conditions; you may choose to deploy your throw-bag, that you should be wearing, to one or more of your passengers who appear to be in danger.
You'll find more success in such situations if you brief your crew about the drill involved with flipping; tell them to not hang out under the raft if it does flip; tell them to try to hold on to the boat; encourage them and use them in the process of pulling people into the boat. Consider the rivers and the rapids that you paddle on, the likely flip spots and the steps and tasks required for a successful rescue.
IMHO.
dan |
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