f-n-c.
I've gone through a fair amount of training, but that video puts it in good perspective.
My mistake last week was overloading the canoe with trash like tires, a 55 gallon drum, and trash bags stacked high on the tires and the drum -- and then not planning for the unexpected.
I should have known better, but wasn't expecting problems. I'd canoed this area a number of times before, but not in the last two years. Unfortunately, one or more of the big storms in the last two years changed the area quite a bit, building up two islands in the river, resulting in three very fast moving channels which came together into some very rough white water with a lot of big sunken trees.
Thankfully we all knew what to do and we had on the right equipment. But, my partner and I still both spent about 30 minutes in the water. I went down river at least a quarter mile before I could make my way to shore. Friends in the canoe behind ours got my partner out of the water. The canoe wasn't going anywhere.
About the time I got out of the water, the other friends from the canoe came into shore where I was at, which was near my truck. I had hooks, ropes, and straps that were used to get to my partner up the extremely steep embankment. They were also able to hook and free the canoe, which my friend recovered.
It certainly gives me good respect for life preservers. I almost always wear one, even in my pond when in the canoe or kayak. I'm certainly not going wader wading, kayaking, or canoeing without one ever again.
