Kayaker dies on North Yuba
Jonathan Zamora
pin near Convict Flat and with a rescue rope in hand thrown from shore
was getting out of his boat and unable to get his second foot out before
the kayak flipped onto the hull. He was caught underwater for 40
minutes before he was retrieved. He was 17 years old. My condolences
to his family and friends.
Kathryn Streletzky
info posted by Hilde on Boater Talk:
<<Forum: BoaterTalk
Re: Kayaker dies in California. (Jeff)
Re: Latest on fatality (Chris)
Date: Jun 06, 09:54
From: Hilde <mik...@innercite.com>
It happened in the rapid called Two Pair. The 18 year old was surfing just
above it, or in it and got pulled into the sieve. His head was above water and
the people boating with him had rescue gear and may have gotten a rope to him.
He opened his spray deck and the water collapsed the boat around his legs and
pulled him under the water. He was in an Ultrafuge. This is second hand
information and if I hear anything more I will correct or add. The level was
around 900 plus or minus a few cfs. I believe this was Saturday.>>
- Mothra
mike fentress
I heard that the boy was 16 and his name was Derrick Snelling. So, it did occur on
Monday? If you find out more please let me know. Thanks. I also heard that a rock
had shifted in the rapid making even more dangerous. Hilde
Jonathan Zamora wrote:
> This occurred on Monday and the pin rock was unknown until now. It was around 4
> pm pacific and I will ask some Downieville rescue personell to show me the rock
> where it occured since I was working I was not on call. I am curious as to
> whether it occurred in the same area where a person had died last year. If anyone
> knows whether it was right or left of two pair please let me know and I will get
> back to everyone when I find out where this particular rock is located.
>
> Jon
>
> Mumu
Jonathan Zamora
Bill Tuthill
This is the second death in Two Pair in two (or three?) years.
Should we upgrade it to class V or IVe in the guidebooks?
Barbara Price
story after today should probably search the News section by today's
date. I have also heard that the fan rock under which Derek was
trapped may have been rolled downstream when his boat was extracted.
This is a terrible tragedy for Derek, his family, and the people who
knew him. He was an incredibly sweet kid and overflowing with life.
And he was only 16.
Jonathan Zamora
the flood of '97.
Jon
mike fentress wrote:
> I heard that the boy was 16 and his name was Derrick Snelling. So, it did occur on
> Monday? If you find out more please let me know. Thanks. I also heard that a rock
> had shifted in the rapid making even more dangerous. Hilde
> Jonathan Zamora wrote:
>
Kathryn Streletzky
here tis:
Students mourn kayaker: Outgoing NU junior loved adventure, say friends, family
By Doug Mattson - Wed, Jun 7, 2000
Students decorated Derek Snellings locker and left flowers at Nevada Union High
School on Tuesday. Eileen Joyce Nevada Union High School students on Tuesday
remembered Derek Snellings, the 16-year-old junior who died in a kayaking
accident Monday on the North Yuba River near Downieville.
Students decorated his locker, left flowers, and talked in groups or with
counselors provided by the school, said Assistant Principal Duane Triplett.
"The kids were really preferring to be in small groups and hang out together,
and we just had people near them to work with them," Triplett said.
Counselors will be available on campus through Thursday, the end of the school
year.
At about 4 p.m. Monday, Snellings was kayaking south of Downieville on a
section of rapids called Two Pair, which are Class 4 and 5 rapids - with Class
5 being the most demanding.
His kayak flipped, and he became stuck underwater, according to his father, Tim
Snellings, director of the county Community Development Agency. It took
rescuers about three hours to retrieve Snellings and his kayak.
The elder Snellings said his son was a kayaking enthusiast who had planned to
make 100 runs this year. Monday's tragedy marked his 32nd run.
"He really didn't do anything wrong," Tim Snellings said. "He was with three
expert boaters very familiar with that stretch; his boat just got stuck in a
certain stretch, and he couldn't get out of it."
A kayaker died last year along the same rapids, Sierra County Sheriff's Deputy
Tim Stanley said.
Discussing the North Yuba stretch south of Downieville, he added, "I'm sad to
say it's claimed lives pretty nearly every year. I'm not a kayaker and I'm not
a rafter, but it does happen. Maybe it happens in other rivers. I don't know -
we get a lot of people up here."
Snellings' friend since the fourth grade, 16-year-old Jedd Snyder, called him
"really outgoing, fearless, a real people person, just trying to be friends
with everybody."
There were a lot of tears and sadness at school, Snyder said. "Pretty much
three-fourths of the people were bummed out. A lot of people were shocked."
Snellings, of Nevada City, was the second-oldest of Tim Snellings and Susan
Prentice's three children. He had a 4.0 grade-point average and worked at Papa
Murphy's Pizza and Wolf Creek Wilderness, a Grass Valley kayaking outfitter.
His other interests included mountain biking and snowboarding, and he was a
devout Christian.
"He was a very special kid, very precious," Tim Snellings said. "If you talked
to people, he was a very impacting person to a lot of people. He touched a lot
of hearts and a lot of lives."
Prentice, who home-schooled Derek until the sixth grade, added adventuresome,
happy-go-lucky, creative and courageous to the list of her son's attributes.
"He was athletic. He played a lot of sports," Prentice said. "He liked extreme
things.
"I was really proud" of the way he was, she said. "He was a 'seize-the-day'
person. ... He was a lobbyist; he lobbied hard to go kayaking.
"I think everybody that met him loved him," she said. "He was a very lovable
person, and I will miss him."
A memorial service by Twin Cities Church will be held at 10 a.m. Friday at the
Grass Valley Veterans Hall, 255 S. Auburn St.
brooke.
>devout Christian.
do you think that if he were a devout pagan, jew or any other religion they
would have mentioned this? *rolling eyes*
-brooke.. who is rather fed up with christianity thinking its the only religon.
"There is something ominous about a swift river, and something thrilling
about a river of any kind. The nearest upstream bend is a gate out of mystery,
the nearest downstream bend a door to further mystery."
-Wallace Stegner
brooke.
awful loss. my condolances and thoughts go out to his friends and family.
-brooke.
Socemdog
now he's gone. I can't imagine the sorrow of his family and friends. I doubt
they will find solace in the fact that he died "doing what he loved". I don't
know how I would survive losing a child.
>>and he was a devout Christian.
But they will find solace in that, knowing they will reunite.
It seems that this spring was a better season, i.e. fewer accidents, than the
last few years, although this summer is not starting out too well.
But this one really hurts, and it makes me realize that losing even one paddler
results in a tragic season, a losing season, or whatever . . .
How do we stop this sorrow? Now we're losing our children!
Mr. Robin D. Sayler
Soce...@aol.com
RSa...@trailworks.com
www.trailworks.com
yakmom
>
> But this one really hurts, and it makes me realize that losing even one paddler
> results in a tragic season, a losing season, or whatever . . .
>
> How do we stop this sorrow? Now we're losing our children!
It was a very tough article for me to read - too many easy to make
connections between Derek's life and my own daughter who is 16 and
passionate about kayaking (thank you for posting it Kathy - I am
printing off a copy for her)......
My heart goes out to Derek's family - If any of you happen to read this
-as a long time homeschooling parent also - I hope that you can find
some joy and some small consolation in the years that you spent in a
close parenting/homeschooling relationship. And I hope that you can find
some peace in knowing that Derek has truly "graduated".
I am so sorry for the pain and loss you all will have to live with for
the years to come.....may you find the strength and courage to go on -
and may each of you draw close to each other and to Him.
sheila
kjsimpson
Thanks for the explanation. I've just gained even more respect for the
water.
--
Regards of the NW,
Kathy
http://home.att.net/~kjsimpson
http://www.nwdaily.com
"Kathryn Streletzky" <kstre...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20000607231200...@ng-co1.aol.com...
> >I'm new to the sport, so please excuse my ignorance, but is it unusual
for
> >the force of the whitewater to collapse a boat while stuck?
>
> Once you pull the skirt, you're at the mercy of the river - if you're in a
> sieve, the boat can collapse very rapidly.
>
> Derek was in an Ultrafuge, a small rodeo boat. These boats generally fit
quite
> snugly and are more difficult to escape from than some other design.
>
> If you want to see what can happen, take a look at what happened to Clay
> Wright's micro in the video Thirst. He hit the sieve (which was unseen
and
> several feet underwater) while running a steep slide - fortunately, his
years
> of class 5 boating gave him the right instinct to bail out quickly. He
pulled
> his knees together and punched out just seconds before the boat collapsed
and
> cracked. He was in a boat with a design that allowed for a fairly rapid
exit
> and escape.
>
> - Mothra
>
>
>
>
>
joni_su...@my-deja.com
Kathryn Simpson
> do you think that if he were a devout pagan, jew or any other religion
they
> would have mentioned this? *rolling eyes*
Perhaps it was an important aspect of his life. My religion is very
important to me and when I die, it would seem appropriate to include that
fact my obituary. Not to mention that our religious beliefs bring us peace,
even during times of extreme grief, which this family is obviously
experiencing.
I've led many a hike with teenagers and I know the terror one feels when one
of them gets into a dangerous predicament. I can only imagine how horrific
it would be to start a day off with smiles and anticipation, only to see it
end so tragically. Condolences to the family and friends of this "devout"
young man.
Kathryn Simpson
the force of the whitewater to collapse a boat while stuck?
Again, too, my sincere condolences to this young man's family.
--
Regards of the NW,
Kathy
http://home.att.net/~kjsimpson
http://www.nwdaily.com
"Kathryn Streletzky" <kstre...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20000606160609...@ng-fs1.aol.com...
Kathryn Streletzky
>the force of the whitewater to collapse a boat while stuck?
Once you pull the skirt, you're at the mercy of the river - if you're in a
jwlester
>>and he was a
>>devout Christian.
>
>do you think that if he were a devout pagan, jew or any other religion they
>would have mentioned this? *rolling eyes*
>
>-brooke.. who is rather fed up with christianity thinking its the only religon.
Brooke,
Ask yourself this - would you have felt such righteous
indignation and posted this if it had said the boy was a devout Jew?
Probably not because it would have been rude and insensitive besides
being politically incorrect. I didn't read anything in the article
celebrating this boy's life about Christianity being the only
religion. "Tolerance" doesn't just mean that people should tolerate
your beliefs.
I'm reminded of something I read in the paper the other day.
When the first Jewish women were allowed to pray aloud and together at
the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, the worst insult the Orthodox Jews who
were jeering and hissing at them could come up with was, "you are all
worse than Christians!" Of all people, these folk should know what
such hate and intolerance brings and should be the last people I'd
expect to come up with such a bigoted statement - but alas, I don't
think humanity will learn - at least in my lifetime.
-John L.
"Real knowlege is to know the extent of one's ignorance"
-Confucious
Melissa
wrote:
>Kathryn,
>
>Thanks for the explanation. I've just gained even more respect for the
>water.
First - my condolences to family and friends of Derrick Snelling.
It is always difficult to say goodbye to yet another of our own. Even
those of us who didn't know him (and too many others) personally,
understand his love for paddling, and for the beauty and the power of
the water that took him. Each time this happens, we mourn the loss of
part of ourselves as well. We are his family too. Water is the blood
we share.
Hi Kathryn,
One can never have too much respect for the water. It can be as
deadly as it is beautiful and magical. Respect, skill, and joy, work
together well when you're in the water. Fear works very well
sometimes, but only when deciding *not* to get into the water in
certain situations.
We who paddle know that there are risks in what we do. Even when we
*do everything right*, something can go wrong. If knowing this would
stop us from paddling, it would also stop us from crossing a street,
or driving a car, etc.
Welcome to this wonderful, magical world of paddling, and respect the
water as much as you love it.
Melissa
Kathryn Streletzky
>*do everything right*, something can go wrong.
True. But in most of the deaths that I have followed, mistakes were made.
This is not to point a finger of blame at the dead, but for us to keep our eyes
open and take away whatever lessons we can.
- Mothra
Barbara Price
It would not surprise me at all to read in the Union (the local paper
the article was from) about someone being a devout Buddhist or
pantheist or whatever.
Barbara
Jim and Erica
obituary have to arouse your hatred of Christianity?
It shouldn't matter to you, if you are so tolerant of all religions, that he
was Christian.
Regardless if he was Wiccan, Jewish, Muslium, or Christian, the point is we
lost one of our own. It is tragic and it shouldn't turn into a religious
war.
It makes me think of the close calls I have had in my short paddling career.
Here was a kid that was a much better paddler than me and the river took
him. IMHO, it's not a religious statement, it's just sad.
Peace,
Jim
"brooke. " <river...@aol.comriver> wrote in message
news:20000607180605...@ng-md1.aol.com...
> >and he was a
> >devout Christian.
>
> do you think that if he were a devout pagan, jew or any other religion
they
> would have mentioned this? *rolling eyes*
>
> -brooke.. who is rather fed up with christianity thinking its the only
religon.
>
Jonathan Zamora
the right chute of Two Pair and that the fatality last year was in the right
chute due to a leg entrapment of a swimmer from a raft. Nevertheless, be
sure to scout and portage if in doubt. They are not sure that the rock was
moved or had shifted during the rescue and believe it is still unsafe on the
right chute.
garth libre
California or New York, I do get and expect to get continuous and
unrepentent intolerance of my "wierd" religious outlook. I get it mostly or
entirely from Christians. My naturally forgiving and understanding nature
keeps me from responding in kind. Christianity does seem to have more than a
touch of distrust and lack of respect for those of other religions. It is
not going away any time soon. Maybe it comes from " ... you shall only come
to the father through me" quote. In any event, those of us who are not
Christians should at least be shown a little forgiveness if we occasionally
"loose it" in an unrelated newsgroup. We are not trying to be difficult, we
just get a little persecution complex, because god is always being refered
to as a man, as a human, as the god of the Jews and Christians, as having a
certain set of biblical values and we, ( those of the non biblical
religions), are always looked on as fringe lunatics. If one of us gets our
dander up, try forgiving us and try to put yourself in our position of being
in a permanent minority. Actually increased love and understanding will help
on all sides. Garth
Jonathan Zamora <jza...@cwo.com> wrote in message
news:3940468C...@cwo.com...
zzz...@my-deja.com
on Saturday, June 3, at about the same water
level. We came to what we thought was Two
Pair (we hadn't run this stretch before). The
first drop consisted of a few rocks and holes
at a tricky entrance, with most of the current
plowing into a rock that created what looked to
be a 6' to 10' vertical waterspout center-right in
the channel. Very nasty. Very impressive. We
all portaged, thinking the rapid must be easier
at a higher flow. I am saddened, but not
surprised that someone got into trouble here.
Rick
Socemdog
<rabb...@mindspring.com> writes:
>because god is always being refered
>to as a man, as a human, as the god of the Jews and Christians
who the Hell is doing that?
Sorry, I'll go to alt.rec.religon.whatever
Alan
Since this newsgroup is for paddlers, how about we limit discusion to
issues concerning paddling...
I see nothing wrong with trying to identify the location of the
unfortunate incident. If you want to argue philiosophy, please find a
different newsgroup.
The paddling community, be it canoe or kayak, is a relatively small
community. Let's keep traditionally caustic issues like faith and
religion out of the discussions.
Thank you.
Alan Greve
garth libre
When I lived in New York City or Princeton N.J. or San Diego or San
Francisco, none of these bad things ever happened to me. Now that I live
near Miami, it happens from the general public constantly. As a matter of
fact, here in Miami, even kayaking seems to make me a target from people
that think that anything different or unusual is probably dangerous or
stupid or a waste of time or a threat in some way. I would not have normally
brought the religion subject up, had not someone already done so. The woman
in question seemed to express (perhaps inappropriately for a paddling board)
that Christianity seems to both dominant and favored. I was only trying to
express why she might so touchy on the subject. Yes, I believe that one good
thing about computer internet communication is that we find common
interests, like paddling. Occasionally going astray leads to clashing. I was
just trying to heal the wound, understand the pain and clear the air for her
and myself too. Sorry it has taken so much of all our time. Garth
Alan <al...@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:39408E2A...@mindspring.com...
brooke.
came after an afternoon of being hit on various sides by attitudes unbecomming
to me. its hard living in a society that is male-centric, christian-centric,
heterocentric, and conservative, when one is a radical lesbian feminist womyn
who is pagan. it's the rare place that i fit in. one positive about canoeing
now is that i don't get questions and remarks about how dangerous kayaking is.
i've been getting *those* remarks since i started paddling at age 15. i need
to be more tolerant of untolerant christian types. sometimes i just can't be.
-brooke.
Socemdog
<rabb...@mindspring.com> writes:
>To: Socemdog-- Obviously you live in a more enlightened place then I do.
Heh heh - I doubt it. Meldrim is in the middle of Bubba-land. Miami is out
there with San Fran compared to this place.
But it's ok if you're a redneck like me. I fit in pretty well. (spit-*)
(Hey, I'm going down there next month - Ocean Reef actually)
Later, R
Socemdog
WERF's.
Robin
brooke.
>WERF's.
awww shucks.. thanks :)
AlPiEs
Memorial Day week end? I met a kid in a grey ultrafuge that week end, who was
paddling with a group of 3-4 boaters.
Alan
AHall87042
Darth Rival
> you're obviously not a devout speller.
And you, ahall, are obviously not a nice person.
Not very smart, either, if you have not taken the trouble to brush up on
Internet etiquette before posting publicly. If you had, you would know
that anyone who criticizes someone's spelling or grammar is saying much
more about himself than he is about the subject of his criticism.
So, what have you achieved? Well (1) you may have hurt Brooke's
feelings a little, or perhaps angered her unnecessarily, and (2) you
have demonstrated to hundreds of people that you are insensitive and
discourteous. Good work; if there weren't 187041 other ahalls out there
in AOLand, we'd remember you next time you showed yer face in r.b.p.
-Darth
==========================
May the Farce be with you!
==========================
Tom Pohorsky
C'mon, save the flames (spelling or otherwise) for the afterlife.
:-)
--
- Tom Pohorsky tomp at Netcom dot com
Socemdog
werd.