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Had a great time at the Gauley river this weekend, saw some great people, paddled some awesome big water, and got myself nice and tired. i do want to bring up a little issue i had while attempting a rescue. i hope this post comes through clearly, as not a pointing fingers game, but a request to remember our roots as boaters, and the common courtesy that involves.
this post is in no way an attempt to get all high and mighty and piss people off. now, having said that, i had an experience on the gauley this weekend that got me really fired up...not in the good way. i was bombing down lost paddle on saturday and caught up to a swimmer
after getting him to shore i went to retrieve his kayak which was in the middle, slowly making its way down the middle eddy before the last two drops. i was trying to push it back upstream and ferry it across the main jet when a group of competent paddlers (one even in a long boat, and a skilled boater at that) passed me right by. i couldnt believe it! i shouted for help but a few of the competently skilled paddlers looked right at me and my situation, shrugged their shoulders and passed right on by, "not my friend, not my boat, not my problem"!!!! i couldnt believe it. all it wouldve taken was one more person helping me push the boat to shore and turn a scary swim back into a cool, safe situation.
his (swimmer) buddies caught up to me and we got the boat to shore.
im not trying to call anyone out here, by any means. all im saying is that my parents ALWAYS told me that part of our responsibility as kayakers, rafters, adventurers, whatever...to help if at all possible when a situation is shitty for another.
priority one: safety of people. priority 2: equipment. priority 3: fun for you.
this was not the only incident like this. it seems there are so many people on the gauley nowadays that many people that are plenty skilled to help will just pass by and let one of the other hundreds of people deal with it.
again, i really dont intend to piss people off here, just a call to duty. we're out there as a community, so lets help each other.
big shout out to the proud rescues i got to see this weekend, like the z drag set up for the upsiedown raft just above sweets on sunday, and the guys getting the rafters out of the lost paddle pin on a late saturday run. nice work
good lines everyone, and lets all be safe and have a good time!
pat keller
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Gauley... New 
BoaterTalk 
