Topic: Searching Deschenes in the news today

[mudman]

A body was discovered in the Ottawa River near Cumberland two days ago...25 km away...they think it could be one of the students who drowned in the Deschenes Rapids...R.I.P.
It's a tragedy but hopefully some good will come of it and the city will finally post some warnings at Britannia about the Deschenes.....
Renny

[JohnN]

In a bizarre twist, the tragedy was almost duplicated:

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2009/05/26/ottawa-river-search-britannia.html

Ottawa firefighters stopped a group of friends from beginning their own water search Monday for two missing boaters.

Rescue workers arrived at Britannia Beach as the group was inflating a dinghy in which it planned to set out on to the Ottawa River from the same area where the missing boaters were last seen Saturday.

The inflatable yellow boat the two men used on the weekend was recovered east of the Deschenes Rapids Sunday along with a lifejacket, but there has still been no sign of the boaters.

Chen Yuan, 20, and Fanzheng Meng, 28, who are both international students from China, were last seen boating away from the beach toward the Gatineau side of the river.

Police announced Monday they have called off the search for the missing boaters.

They also told the group of friends on Monday that they should be worried about their own safety around the river.

"What we don't want is for you to go out in a boat yeah, that is not a boat. That's a toy," one firefighter told the group.

"It's very, very dangerous this time of year. You don't realize it here because the water's so calm."

The boaters' friends, however, said they haven't yet given up on their search for the two students.

"The police told us and actually showed us how big the river is," said Lake Zhang. "It's not a normal river — it's a huge river. Rapids and really dangerous."

Zhang said the advice police gave them about the river simply changes the way that the group of friends will conduct its search.

"The boat we actually bought is too small for the river. So we're probably not going to go into the river. We'll probably search on the shore. We'll probably go to the other side of the shore to search," he said.

"We have to keep searching."

[Mark.D.]

   the buoys above the death trap ruins are a great idea, at least they could have grabbed onto something,     however , fire rescue do not boat above the rapids in case of motor failure , 

 yes Renny I agree they need to blow those ruins up , you've seen a lot of action there , 
   the day was nice , puting in you don't see any rapids as it slopes downward , you cant even tell your being swept downstream as the waters smooth as glass and it's so wide , there are no bearings , If youve ever done the above the champlain bridge ferry to go out to the middle you know what I mean .

this is something even I'd probably have done years back on a whim if I never paddled , if I didnt see the big rapids.   I can't imagine the horror they faced , the rooms of doom in the ruins give me goosebumps watching 1000 feet from shore .  r.i.p.

[ChristianG]

I agree with you Renny. This was discussed before too... Where do we start?  --C.

[mudman]

Yeah, I agree everyone is responsible for their own safety and that signs don't always help.....but I'm shocked that in the reporting no one has mentioned how many people have been swept over those rapids and how many people have drowned in the remains of the ruins....This is has to do with more than a couple of international students who didn't know the area. There are far too many locals who end up in the same situation.

Last year I helped recovered some gear of a fisherman whose brand new motor wouldn't start and he and his boat got swept through the ruins. Last year there was a large rescue board stuck in the humongous hole that's above lower JJs, just above the ruin. Thankfully the lifeguard and the person he was saving just made it to shore on time. The year before that I saw a parasail go through. Thankfully the sailor had made it to shore but I didn't know it at the time. It's creepy sitting below that ruin scouting the water for a body to pop out.

The NCC needs to build a coffer damn and either remove the hazard or stabilize the ruins in such a way that they are no longer a river hazard. The Aylmer side of the Deschenes could be a playboaters paradise. If people are willing to travel hundreds of miles to paddle the upper Ottawa you'd think that the city of Gatineau or the NCC would understand the tourism and economic potential of Deschenes. It could easily be turned into a whitewater park. Don't tell me it can be done. The ORR worked miracles with the pumphouse against all odds (and the NCC) and there's that dammed river in Alberta that a kayak club has modified....

I say it's time to take all these tragedies and near tragedies and propose something that is about public safety and paddling. The development of the ruins could be a silver lining to a pretty sorry state of affairs...But if I know this region they will put a high fence around Deschenes with no paddling signs all over it....

Not overly optimistic in Ottawa,
Renny

[GrahameH]

If they were still in their boat and dry, chances for survival would be good.  Being the water for an extended period of time and generally unprepared, the chances are significantly lower, just as we all know and appreciate. 

The water's cold enough still that they might be still on the bottom as the bacterial growth is slowed.

But, they were both adults, and although they might have known, they should have been old enough not to be ignorant of the conditions and geography.  It's a sad situation, but everyone's responsible for their own safety far more than any sign can ever be. 

[mudman]

If you go over the Ontario side of the Deschines you'll eventually be flushed out. There are some scary holes but nothing that would trap and hold a body for an extended period. I've run the Ontario side a few times this year and yes it's high and fast but there's no re-bar and concrete sieves....
The other thing is that the wind in Britannia Bay/Lac Deschenes is usually blowing west towards the Deschenes rapids, so they would have been paddling with both the wind and the current pushing them towards the rapids. They would have probably survived the descent if they were on this side of the gull island.

[ChristianG]

Here is the info:

http://ottawa.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090524/OTT_search_090524/20090524/?hub=OttawaHome
http://ottawa.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090525/OTT_Recovery_Effort_090525/20090525/?hub=OttawaHome
http://www.ottawasun.com/news/ottawa/2009/05/25/9557286-sun.html

The relevant parts (for us) are reproduced below. I don't think they made it anywhere near the Quebec side of the rapids, I looked at BYOB the other day and the water is flowing very fast even near the Ontario side. And notice the pattern too: no cold water gear, no PFD, no experience... I doubt warning signs in English would have made a difference. And the stupid thing: the Citizen article has a photo of a kayaker with no cold-water gear on as well! That's reminiscent of our bozo at Champlain last week with nothing under his PFD and wearing shorts, going in the current to "rescue" Robert... At this water temperature, with no gear you can't be in there longer than 15-20 minutes--and that's if you know how to swim! What are they thinking, it's still May... Read the exerpts:

"Fanzheng Meng, 28, and Chen Yuan, 20, were last seen paddling near Britannia Beach in the city's west end at about 7 p.m. Saturday. Search efforts recovered the pair's yellow dingy near the Deschenes Rapids on Sunday."

"These people had only been here for a short time in Ottawa, they were international students going to university here from China,"

"We suspect they'd never even been on the Ottawa River; totally unaware that these rapids existed. So, when they left Britannia Beach, they attempted to go to the Aylmer shoreline or the Gatineau shoreline..."

"Police say it's believed the boaters only had one ore and one lifejacket on board at the time of the incident. However, it's unclear whether either passenger was wearing the flotation device."

"One was wearing glasses, a white T-shirt, multi-coloured Capri shorts, and has a "faux hawk" hairstyle. The other was wearing a black tank top and grey shorts."

--C.

[ChristianG]

Perhaps we should make a suggestion to the relevant authority (NCC? City of Gatineau?) to put a couple lines of yellow buoys like the one above the Chaudiere Falls, but allow put-in just above the northernmost channel for the Deschesnes playspot? A thought...

--C.  

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[JohnN]

The thing is a major hazard and I don't recall seeing any warnings about the rapids at Britannia Beach (where they launched from) nor at any of the boat launches in the neighborhood. And there are no markers above the Deschenes. Unless you are a local who knows about the rapids there are no warnings about the Deschenes.

I think there is a warning at Brittania, at least one sign near the West rock wall iirc (where nobody would put in a craft of any sort) about "dangerous rapids below".  Now that you mention it though, I'm not sure if there is one at the beach where casual paddlers/windsurfers would logically put in.  You may be right about the Quebec side as well, I don't recall any warning signs anywhere.

[mudman]

One news report I heard said the inflatable boat was partially deflated. I bet money that they became trapped in the ruins, one of the biggest sieves on the planet....

The Deschenes rapids on the southern side of Gull island are relatively shallow, whereas on the other side, where the ruins are, it's a much deeper channel, with much faster water. It's very deceptive because the current picks up much further upstream from the island and funnels between the Aylmer shore and the island...The closer you get to the Quebec shore the faster the current gets. That's why they built the old hydro-generating plant there.

The ruins are the remains of the Hull Electric Streetcar generating station. It's was a privately owned dam. The station burnt down (in the Twenties I think), the Streetcar company went under and the ruins claim more lives each year. The Deschines ruins are an argument against loosening the environmental assessments on rivers and private hydro generation. The problem with private corporations is that they are given all the legal rights of an individual but with little of the liability. The company goes under and a deathtrap remains......

The thing is a major hazard and I don't recall seeing any warnings about the rapids at Britannia Beach (where they launched from) nor at any of the boat launches in the neighborhood. And there are no markers above the Deschenes. Unless you are a local who knows about the rapids there are no warnings about the Deschenes.

The end result of all people drowning in the Ottawa could be what the N.C.C. did at Hogsback. Look but don't paddle....No, these latest drowning victims weren't paddlers, but when indignant politicians write legislation they're not going to make any distinctions between people who wear the right gear and have the right training and all these poor buggers who don't know what they are doing.

Just two cents from a malcontent.....
Renny

[LouisD]

On Sunday, 2 big zodiacs manned by the police put in at Champlain.
They were looking for 2 missing persons who were last seen on Saturday at the Deschenes rapids in an inflatable raft.
This morning, on my way in to work, the radio was saying that they were not found yet.