It's something to bump a surfer off a Garburetor or l'Agneau de Dieu, but it's something else to plug almost vertically on top of another paddler... The positive part is that the guy being worked was released from the pourover, but had the 2nd kayaker hit the paddler instead of the 1st kayak, things cold have been a lot worse.
As for signalling: in a zoo like Moshier during Beaverfest, I would tend to agree with the 2nd paddler. Asking for permission to go every time would be a bit unrealistic, and he gave the 1st paddler enough time assuming he had the skills to do the run successfully. However, I would have assumed that the 5-6 paddlers standing on the rock scouting and admiring the carnage would have at least some kind of mind to turn upstream and signal 2nd paddler to stop! Those morons just stood there, and I think the 2nd paddler's comments about signaling were directed at them.
About throwbags: on the 2nd drop of same river later that day, someone ran the falls too far right, got worked in the hole and swam. There were 5-6 people standing just below the drop. As far as I could see, only one had a throwbag, and he did not even manage to fish the end of the rope from the bag in time to use it to rescue the swimmer, who went down the rest of the rapid (a class III at least). It's in the minimum requirements, for instance:
"--A throw bag, with at least 50' (15 m) of floating rope, at least 1/4" (6.4 mm) thick (so-called 'regulation' throw bag--longer and thicker lines are preferable). Paddlers should be proficient at accurately throwing and quickly reloading their bag, and when they get out of their boats near whitewater, they are to TAKE THEIR THROWBAG WITH THEM: a throwbag left in a boat is useless."
(
http://www.cdb-ottawa.com/simplemachinesforum/index.php?topic=4403.0)
There is enough room, now that boats are bigger than they were a few years ago, to have water bottle and other knick-knacks AND a throw bag in front of you, not behind the seat. That way (1) the habit of taking it with you when exiting the boat for scouting is easy to acquire, and (2) it is also easy to give the throwbag to someone else without coming out of the boat if needed. It's beyond me why many paddlers insist on taking their paddle with them when scouting, but either don't have a throwbag or leave it behind in their boat. And since wet ropes may deteriorate because of mold etc., at the end of every paddling day is an opportunity to practice throwing the rope, to allow it to dry!
That said, the weekend was a lot of fun... --C.
