interest in a fishing safety class?

[Miles]

Check out this thread for backstory, but the upshot is that I want to know if anybody is interested in taking (ie. paying for) a fishing safety class. The goal of the class would be to help us stay out of trouble in the Potomac and other major rivers we might fish.

The class would be taught by whitewater safety instructors from one of the local boating clubs, and adapted from their curriculum. It would cover techniques like wading safely in strong current, canoeing and kayaking safely in current, self-rescue in case you fall in, and river hazards and awareness. Even taking the classes as a kayaker, about 95% of the time I didn't need to know any of it, but I was damn glad I did for that other 5%.

We would probably do it later in the summer, on a warm day so we could get wet. We'd spend a fair amount of time in the water, including some potentially uncomfortable situations -- all supervised by trained and equipped rescue personnel. You'd have to sign a hell of a waiver, but it would be plenty fun.

If there's enough interest, I'll contact the clubs to see if their instructors would be amenable, and go from there.

Miles

[Bryan Lanier]

I'm up for it.

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[John Bilotta]

Does anyone know of any other park service properties with similar blanket restrictions over miles of water for wading, swimming and bathing?

John

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[Miles]

A few minutes on Google brought up similar restrictions at Zion NP, Capitol Reef NP, Joshua Tree NP, Acadia NP, and Grand Teton NP. So it's not unprecedented, although the scope is maybe greater in our case.

Miles

[Rob Snowhite]

Found this article interesting via the Wash post. Still can't believe someone would put a boat in there with water like this (there was a woman who was stranded with her kayak in tree tops a few years ago during a flood)

[Miles]

Well...

I once put in at around 8' to paddle a spot called Dead Cow Hole. On the map in the article, the hole is in the channel behind the island where the guy stopped his boat. Normally it's stagnant, but above a certain level turns into moving water. When we were done, we paddled up the channel and out into the main flow -- a stretch I paddled a lot at 3' to 5'. It was almost unrecognizable -- just an amazing amount of water.

At that point, I had been paddling for several years, had up-to-date equipment in good condition, knew the river pretty well, and my buddy was a semi-pro boater. Whoever popped out of that red kayak probably had none of those things going for him. I hope they find him.

Miles

[Greg Feder]

Miles --

 

He was safe and sound at home in Reston with no idea that there had been a 3-day search and rescue operation.   According to a follow-up article (http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/kayaker-presumed-missing-in-potomac-river-was-actually-safe-at-home-in-reston/2014/06/15/0d2bcfee-f4ac-11e3-8f20-f3a5fed7f3c4_story.html), he was already on Craig's list looking for a replacement boat. 

 

-- Greg

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[namfos]

MoCo should send him an invoice.

Mark