I think the main question brought up by your post and by the other threads about this incident is when it's appropriate to speak up and tell other boaters that you think what they are doing is a bad idea.  It's a question of balancing kayaking as a group activity with kayaking as an individual activity, and it's something that has changed a lot as the sport has grown over the years.

When I first came into whitewater, it was a really small community and all of us looked at each other as "friends" by default, whether we knew the other person or not.  It was pretty well accepted that speaking your mind was ok, and that you were well within your rights to point out dangers to someone who was about to do something you thought might be excessively risky.

Over the years our sport has grown, and there are so many people in it that the feeling of an inherent bond of friendship between all paddlers has been lost to a certain degree.  Running into paddlers that you don't know on your home run has become the rule instead of the exception, and it's become progressively harder to speak your mind to other paddlers - and on the flip side it's become harder to listen to fellow paddlers you don't know as well.  This evolution has been one of the most difficult changes for me to take as I've kept on paddling over the past couple of decades.  I'm not sure it's serving us well.

I've always though that speaking your mind to someone who is about to do something you see as extremely risky is not only a right, but a responsibility.  It seems that over the last ten years or so - especially with the advent of the internet - we've been urged time and time again to be sensitive to the feelings of other paddlers or the surviving friends and family of the deceased at the expense of spreading the oral tradition lessons that used to be the lifeblood of our sport and that serve to keep the living participants alive.  I've fallen into the same situation as the original poster here, and have  finally decided that enough is enough no matter how unpopular my opinions might be (of course Louie decided right away, but he's much crustier and older and less agreeable than I am).  It's not a service to our sport, our community, or the other paddlers who will head out there on the next rain to not say anything.  Whether it's here, at the side of the river, or somewhere in a wilderness gorge, this sport was originally made up of people who freely spoke their mind to each other with the philosophy that saving lives was more important than tiptoeing around people's feelings.  We all need to get back to that, myself included.  The sheer volume of paddlers on the rivers and the resulting loss of feeling of community has made me hold my tongue too often.  I'm not gonna any more.

The bottom line is that we all participate in a risky sport in an unpredictable and immensely powerful environment.  No matter how tough or cool or individualistic we think we are, we all rely on each other for river lessons, transfer of wisdom, and guidance from past experiences before we put on any stretch of river.  If you haven't checked in with those things before you put on, you are not being responsible.  If we are not spreading that info freely to and without invitation from our fellow paddlers, we are not being responsible.  I think it's time we stand up as a community and take responsibility for our fellow paddlers again.  Whether you are out there all alone (which is ok in certain circumstances) or out there in a group of 20, we are all safer if we look out for one another through sharing of information and *opinions*.

That being said, I will say again like I did after the last big rain:  the ground is still hard, and there has been a long drought in the Southeast.  In a heavy rain, water runs off quickly and rivers rise rapidly.  If you haven't paddled on a lot of big water, know that it is a force far greater than you.  You might see the pros challenging high water in the videos - know that it's not without tons of consideration, tons of safety and lots of careful thought about what they're doing.  If you're going to put on something at really high water do so with supreme caution, and also wait until the water is dropping so that you know what you're dealing with.  Whitewater can give you some of the greatest experiences of your life, but don't think for an instant that it will pause one moment before taking your life if you treat it lightly.  Rivers are fundamentally endowed with near infinite soul and absolutely zero conscience.  Act accordingly.  Only by working as a team and treating each other as a large family can we dance with such a majestic and uncaring force.  The river gods don't have your back - your fellow paddlers do.

I have lost several friends and many acquaintances to rivers.  I've looked into the eyes of someone the moment before their life was lost on a river, and I've pulled a friend's body from the river hours too late to save him.  Trust me, no matter how many of the living you offend by speaking your mind it's not worth the price of losing another brother or sister to the river, and all of the people that they will leave behind.

My thoughts are with all of those left behind after the two recent river passages in the Southeast, and with the family and friends of all of our fellow paddlers lost to the river.  Let's work together to make sure that their deaths can serve a purpose of teaching all of us lessons that can help keep the rest of us alive.

Leland