So i took some clients down the river yesterday for the first time since becoming a father.........I didnt catch the local news for the last few days and being as it the water is regulated by a power company the water flow never varies enough to matter.
Anyway,
Well, the water DID vary and the fishing wasnt all that great, although we did catch some fish.
Listen to the following though.......this is WHY the water level fluctuated. The place it happened is the worst rapid on the river, a class 5 and one I and many other seasoned captains take our DRIFTBOATS down.
The saddest thing about it is that she did everything right. It was her first trip but, she not onoly took lessons before going, she was with an experienced captain AND was wearing a class 5 lifejacket. Wanna talk about water pressure, I HEARD that the water pressure banking up against the famous rock that has her pinned(shes still there) was 92,000 lbs per sq inch. That seems like a lot to me but i have taken my driftboat down that stretch countless times and the famous rock in question IS named "OH S___" for a reason. I did a search but couldnt find any relevent information in concern to that, i would be interested if anybody knows what the water pressure of a roaring river can be, and if that 92,000 i heard is truly the case.
The guy who sunk his sled is the only guy on the river who can legally run his sled in that portion of the river...usually to perform boat salvaging efforts. After sinking it, he left as soon as possible to buy another and continue. For anybody who doesnt know it, if you are to sink a quality aluminum boat in a rapid such as this, it will come out looking like a beer can that a large drunk man took some agression out on. Seriously. Ive never sunk a boat(knock on wood), but just the same, i make about half or more of my clients walk this little stretch, based on health , swimming ability and strength.......just in case. O fcourse theyre not paying me for the whitewater experience, theyre paying me to catch fish, and for what its worth, whitewater like that is only fun in a driftboat if you are a little sick in the head becasue it puckers you up EVERY time, no matter how good you are.
Boat sinks trying to recover body of missing rafter in Deschutes
By kgw.com Staff
BEND, Ore. -- The area of the Deschutes River where an Oregon City teen's body was found Sunday was so treacherous, a rescue boat sank during efforts to recover it, deputies said.
File photo from White Horse Adventures
The White Horse Rapids in the Deschutes River.
Divers using an underwater camera spotted the body of 17-year-old Danielle Hagler after four days of searching.
Chief Deputy Steve Conover said she was lodged against a large boulder in the river, held there by the pressure of the powerful rapids.
No one was injured when the rescue boat sank, and all got to shore safely, Conover said. But the sunken boat's bow was left sticking out of the water and created a navigational hazard.
"High water and turbulence in the rapids have created hazardous conditions which are hampering recovery efforts," Conover said. As a result, the sheriff's office was asking Portland General Electric to reduce the water flow so divers could safely reach Hagler's body.
Hagler was found close to the location where her raft overturned last Thursday. She was part of a church group on a recreational trip on the Deschutes River.
The raft flipped in the White Horse Rapids, a dangerous stretch of the Deschutes River. All the other occupants of the raft were able to swim to shore. One other girl, Hagler's best friend, Misty Blair, was slightly injured in the accident, and was transported to a hospital in The Dalles for treatment.
Friends of Hagler had held out hope that Hagler would be found alive somewhere along the BLM land bordering the river because she was wearing a life jacket at the time of the accident.
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Anyway, just thought i would share and tell everybody to BE CAREFUL out there enjoying the summer, bad luck happens like in this case, add a little bit of carelessness in there and your odds of an accident increase accordingly.
That really is tragic, Bill 
