My kayaking failure in the Rockaway river, need advice

Nicholas

Banned
This post turned out more epic than I thought, here is the tl;dr:
Tried to kayak the local Rockaway river, was fun, short, then wiped-out, then manhandled by the current while still holding the paddles till I got ashore. How do I avoid/better handle these failures next time?

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It has been a while since I got my Advanced Elements Dragonfly XC tandem inflatable kayak and I already got bored of using it on lakes. Me and a friend tried going down a local river, called the Rockaway River that runs through Wharton - Dover - Rockaway - Denville - Boonton, in Morris County, NJ. But the water was too shallow and we kept getting stuck on rocks that day, so we aborted. Hurricane Irene hit NJ on August 28 and it caused massive flooding, especially surrounding the Rockaway river and that solved the problem of depth and I figure it will be my last possible chance to go down the Rockaway River before Winter. I monitor the river and see that the flooding subsides, check the bridges in downtown Dover to make sure we can pass under and on August 31 when the river is still high we try and at first it is a total blast, but then disaster hits.

A fallen branch blocks most the path of the river, we manage to duck under it, but immediately after is another branch that wipes us both out. My friend bails first, but I try to stay seated on the kayak, grab the branch and contort underneath it, but instead I fall into the river. Since the current there was quite strong, immediately like a punch in the face, my glasses get taken from my head and claimed by the river. I see the paddles and kayak drifting away from me downstream. Since the paddles cost me $110 each and they are closer, I grab both of them, but then the trouble really starts. I need my bodyweight to help me stay low and grounded to fight the current and get ashore, but holding the paddles lightens my weight and makes the current more formidable. The current manhandles me and sends me about 1000 ft. or so downstream I would estimate before I can grab a branch and get ashore. Though, at no point was I in danger of drowning, I was still dismayed by this overpowerment. I see my friend at the opposite end of the shore on the high ground of the Krauzer's/Bassett Highway Parking lot, since I know the area, I know I can walk around to him and I do so. When I meet up with him he points out the inflatable kayak which is further upstream stuck pinned underneath the branch of a tree, which I cannot access from walking around again due to impenetrable plant growth. From the previous experience, I know I should walk at least 50-100 feet upstream before re-entering the river to cross, because the current will drag me down in my attempt to cross close to the kayak. Luckily I make the swim across and manage to free the kayak.

Another mini-disaster strikes as my friend informs me he sees white people eyeing us intently from the parking lot he is in and to hurry up before they do something. He throws me one paddle and I launch again downstream till I find a lack of growth and manage to get to the shore next to PJs Plumbing supply on W. Clinton Street. Luckily I find a couple there right at the point where I reach the shore, and the guy is kind enough to help me lift the kayak ashore after we dump out the excessive water that was in the interior after it was pinned upside down under the branch. When I get the kayak near the train tracks, I yelled to my friend to come around to meet me. I cannot hear him and instead hear an undecipherable and unknown response, so I yell again. Then my friend yells that the cops came, I see the cop, and figure obviously the white onlookers called them before asking us if we were ok or not. Fortunately the cop is relatively cool by the standards of his profession and lets us off with a warning, saying to not go into the river again. Luckily the other guy was there or else I possibly never would have been able to get the considerable water out to get it ashore, which would have left me in the river to face the cops dictum to get out and perhaps abandon the kayak. Another slap struck me as I opened the dry bag -- I found that it was saturated with water, I took out my cellphone and the screen was blank, so I could not call my brother to pick us up.

In hindsight:
1. Days after this debacle, I walked that same parking lot to get a better view of the twin fallen branches and see that if we veered to the extreme right, we could have easily passed under both branches. Perhaps from our perspective on the kayak, this was much harder to discern, or possibly we did not scan far enough ahead.
2. We should have waited past the 31th for perhaps two or three more days, since the river was still quite high making the current more potent.
3. My friend should have worn shoes as instead of going to his house a few minutes away to get old shoes, he insisted we save time by going directly to Water Works park in Wharton where we launched. He said he would just go barefoot. He paid for this as in the parking lot waiting for me to recover the equipment he stepped in dog shit, and it was so hot that it caked onto his foot, which he had to clean with his hand, lol.

I have some questions so I know what to do next time to avoid the same travails:
1. This is ulimately guess work perhaps, but in such a river that ranges from normally too low so that you would constantly hit rocks, to too high resulting in too much current and the inability to pass under bridges, how do you best determine when a good passage is possible?

2. When you do wipeout like we did, at an area with a powerful current, how should you handle it? I sure as hell didn't want to just abandon the investment in the paddles and assume I could find them later.

3. Do you think my cellphone could have gotten saturated because I put it in the dry bag with two bike water bottles, which could have been the source of the leak? The water bottles seemed to still be full to me afterward. Or would any dry bag forced to stay pinned upside down stationary under a branch with a fairly powerful current pounding at it for a prolonged period, get waterlogged?

4. How do you get back upstream from kayaking a river? We were planning to call my brother, have him pick us up and bring us home, hence the cellphone. But now I am weary of trusting a cell in a wetbag.

5. If you wear glasses how are you supposed to handle that situation? I figure next try I should not wear them and have my friend with his better vision up in front, as I cannot afford to keep losing them.

I just checked the forecast and there is suppossed to be rain the tonight and tommorrow: http://www.weather.com/weather/5-day/Dover+NJ+07801
I checked the river today at various point throughout Dover earlier today and if anything, it was perhaps too low to pass some rocky areas. This could likely be my last opportunity, I don't want to go the whole winter with this defeat in my mouth without tasting some victory. If anyone who is more experienced kayaking, would like to go tandem with me in lieu of my friend down this river when it is possible after these latest rains, perhaps that would be better instead of two inexperienced people trying together and making assorted epic failures.
 
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thanks for the cliffs, sounds like a good time. capers is our local kayak expert. he will chime in soon.
 
You had a bad day and probably made more potentially dangerous mistakes than you realize.

Trees are the usually the most dangerous feature on a river. Avoid them.

To learn how to avoid them, get instruction from a local paddling club. Thye can help you have a good day on a river in a safe manner. Much of paddling is counterintuitive and your instincts can get you in trouble.
 
Sounds like you guys had a rough time. Check with EMS or REI for courses on paddling.

For glasses, I would think to try Croakies(R) or some other type of leash for glasses.

I am not a kayaker, but I have some experience with drybags - the brand "Seal Line."

I am not sure if a wet bag is the same as a dry bag. I have not had good luck with the small bags that close with a zip lock type mechanism and then can strap around your waist. I find that the best are the Seal Line dry bags, which you fold the top over 3 times and then clip. Then depending on your shorts, you could possibly clip a small bag with a carabiner to your shorts or life vest.

Note: I use these when I want to bring bottled water, beer, wine, etc in my checked airline luggage. That way if the contents break / explode, the liquid is confined therein and does not impact my clothing.
 
I wouldn't keep bottled water in dry bag (I think that's what is called)and if properly closed it would never get any water inside.
 
In no particular order:
-Avoid white people, they just stare and call the cops.
-A dry bag becomes a wet bag once you willingly place water inside of it.
-Somewhere between a dry spell and a hurricane will probably be the best time to kayak on the river.
-Losing a few hundred dollars in paddles will be less expensive than dying.
 
@Trail Rider:
It was not a whole tree, it was two fallen branches from the considerable winds of Irene which we could have avoided if we veered to the extreme right.

How are you supposed to handle a wipeout like that? Are you suppossed to just abandon your equipment? I never felt it was close to life and death, I was always taller than the water anyway and I was always almost close in my attempts to try to stop myself, so I went for and held onto paddles. But instead of trying to stop like a moron which was a futile tactic, I should have really focused from the onset on veering to the shore on the left. The relative shallowness and my inexperience deceived me.

Also where do I find a local paddling club(quick searches turned nothing up)?

@Robson:
Duh, I should have thought of two sealed bottled waters!

@jackx:
Thanks for the suggestion of croakies, I will try to get one before I make my next attempt. Here is my dry bag, it is called a Sea Safe:
f_68456_1.jpg
 
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Well, I'm glad you are ok. Seriously, you should consider yourself very-very lucky. There were many things in this report that made me cringe, you basically broke every rule in the book. But I do commend you on posting your story publicly so that maybe you can learn something.

Where do I begin?

So it appears you're venturing out onto a river that is dangerously inundated with an abnormally high volume of water, with no knowledge of safety, self rescue, local knowledge, proper use of your equipment and perhaps inadequite equipment, not ideal for the conditions. In other words, complete ignorance. I wasn't there, so Im basing this off of what I'm reading.

First of all, never ever go out on to a river in flood conditions. Especially if you're noob. One of the most common hazards associated with high water after a storm are strainers. Remember this word. That tree branch that crossed the river, causing you to capsize is a strainer.

From Wikipedia:
Strainers
Strainers are formed when an object blocks the passage of larger objects but allows the flow of water to continue - like a big food strainer or colander. These objects can be very dangerous, because the force of the water will pin an object or body against the strainer and then pile up, pushing it down under water. Strainers are formed by many different objects, like storm grates over tunnels, trees that have fallen into a river ("log jam"), bushes by the side of the river that are flooded during high water, or rebar from broken concrete structures in the water. In an emergency it is often best to try and climb on top of a strainer so as not to be pinned against the object under the water. If you are in a river, swimming aggressively away from the strainer and into the main channel is your best bet. If you cannot avoid the strainer, you should swim hard towards it and try to get as much of your body up and over it as possible.

More here

Quoting you here
"Though, at no point was I in danger of drowning, I was still dismayed by this overpowerment.
WRONG! If you've capsized and you're floating helplessly down a moving river, considar yourself always in danger of drowing. Weather you're on Class V whitewater or a Class I river, the water is carrying you against your will. You admitted that you were overpowerd, right? There's several scenarios here that can cause one to drown. Such as debris in the water, catching one of your limbs and pulling you down. Cramping (this one has happened to me when I was a noob and panicked), Unexpected features such as holes or hydrolics. They'll pull you down and toss you around like a rag doll. And of corse strainers, which are probably the number one most dangerous. Oh and if you're on whitewater without a helmet...well I don't ned to explain that one.

In this situation you'll want to float down the river on your back with your feet facing downriver, but keep your feet up near the surface of the water. This is the safest way to swim it out. DO NOT, under any circumstances attempt to stand up, even if it's only 3-4 feet deep. You'll risk having your foot wedged under an undercut rock followed by the force of the water pushing you face first into the drink. Game over.

I'm only answering some of these:

1. This is ulimately guess work perhaps, but in such a river that ranges from normally too low so that you would constantly hit rocks, to too high resulting in too much current and the inability to pass under bridges, how do you best determine when a good passage is possible?

Part of it is experience with river reading. River reading is the ability to scan the river infront of you and know what the water is doing based on visual cues. This comes from experience. For instance, Paddling into "V" shaped currents, pointing downriver will give you the path of least resistance. There are many others...

Local knowledge is a big one too. Obviously this comes with experience as well. Or by talking to or paddling with others that are familier with the river.

Scout. To me it soounds like you did this to an extent.

Know before you go. Are you familier with the charicteristics of this river at it's different levels? Do you know at what level it is considard flood stage? Do you check the river gauge before heading out? Do you know at how many CFS (cubic feet per second) the water volume is before becoming too dangerous? You can check New Jersey river levels here. This is real time data geared specifically towards paddling. This also provides helpful information on each river as well as it's rating/class. http://www.americanwhitewater.org/ is a great resource.

Were you wearing a PFD? God I hope so!

2. When you do wipeout like we did, at an area with a powerful current, how should you handle it? I sure as hell didn't want to just abandon the investment in the paddles and assume I could find them later.

The correct terminology is "capsize". Forget about your equipment. Save yourself first. Equipment can be replaced, your life can't. The first order of business is getting yourself and your companions safely to land.

Generally in river kayaking, we learn to roll. This requires instruction. In the event of a capsize, we are able to self-right our boat without exiting the cockpit. If you're in a situation where you cannot rely on this technique, there are various forms of self and assisted rescues, Also requiring instruction.


4. How do you get back upstream from kayaking a river? We were planning to call my brother, have him pick us up and bring us home, hence the cellphone. But now I am weary of trusting a cell in a wetbag

You run a shuttle. Park a car at both ends and shuttle back with a friends. Sorry, but you're not going to paddle back up the river unless you are experienced enough to utilize eddys, micro eddys and know how to ferry.

So yeah. Now that you've learned the hard way, I wouldn't give up. Kayaking is a frigging awesome sport. There's several different types of kayaking and to me it sounds like you are interested in Whitewater Kayaking.

I would advise that you seek instruction. There's a few places in PA that offer great Whitewater 2 day weekend courses. They make for a fun weekend getaway too.
http://www.kayakschool.com/
http://www.whitewaterchallengers.com/lehigh/lehigh-kayaking.asp

I would also look into local paddling clubs. Not only is formal instruction vital, but you'll always learn by paddling with others that have experience.

Always respect the power of moving water. It's more powerful than you think. If you take steps to learn about it, and to be aware of the dangers associated, kayaking will become much more safer and fun for you.

Hope this helps! Glad you're alive!

-Capers
 
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I'm sorry I can't even begin to read your story .
Let me get this straight . Your a novice kayaker in an inflatable kayak venturing into the Rockaway river that is many feet above it's normal level due to the hurricane that just passed through , not to mention the week of rain that followed .
You've got to be kidding me .
You're lucky to be alive .

WHAT WERE YOU THINKING ?
 
I am at a loss with this one on many levels. You could have just as easily been a Channel 12 news story or Darwin Award recipient. I also do not know what difference it makes that the people and onlookers were "white" :hmmm: You and your friend are lucky to be alive.
 
I'm just wondering why this story was posted here, as opposed to, say, the NJ Bird Watching forum?
 
capedoc has lots of good advice especially about paddling being awesome, fast water and strainers being dangerous and a club being a good way to learn (and share rides back upstream).
Since this is a biking forum I'd add one great way to get back upstream to your boat is to use your bike! Lock it at the pull out. Drive your bike and boat to the put in. When you get to the pull out lock the boat and other big stuff. Since we know you value your paddles you can pull them apart and tie the handles to the top tube of the bike with blades sticking back like a fender.
 
Since this is a biking forum I'd add one great way to get back upstream to your boat is to use your bike!

YES! I have done this. I have the luxury of living right on the Delaware River. I dropped my boat in up in Riegelsville PA, paddled back to my house in Lambertville then rode my back to my car. That was a good day 🙂

Have also done this from White Haven PA to Jim Thorpe on the Lehigh River. Left a bike chained up near the train station. Although I had to hide my kayak in the woods.
 
I was just riding D&R and thinking it would make for a great shuttle like this.
Hope you didn't have to ride back on the PA side, there's some turbulence there...

YES! I have done this. I have the luxury of living right on the Delaware River. I dropped my boat in up in Riegelsville PA, paddled back to my house in Lambertville then rode my back to my car. That was a good day 🙂

Have also done this from White Haven PA to Jim Thorpe on the Lehigh River. Left a bike chained up near the train station. Although I had to hide my kayak in the woods.
 
So let me get this staight. This guys friend wiped a steaming hot dog shit off his barefoot with his hands? and is afaid of white people?
 
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