| Summary | |
| Owner | MITOC Gallery Administrator |
| Creation Date | 2007-05-14 09:32:32 UTC-0400 |
| Description |
MITOC-ROC Swiftwater Training Course May 12-13, 2007 MITOC: Greg, Chris, Taylor, Rachel, Lisa, John RPI: Jon, John, Don, Monica, Jeff, Craig Report The Outing Clubs of MIT and RPI combined forces to take a Swiftwater Rescue class from Zoar Outdoor, taught by Fergus and Jimmy. We arrived early on Saturday morning at Zoar in Charlemont, MA. I think all would say it was a weekend well spent--amazing weather, good people, good instructors, and many very, very valuable (and often fun/scary) skills. Here are some highlights:
I'm sure there's more I'm leaving out that we covered. It was a great class with some time indoors, but a lot spent on the river actually practicing the skills. We had gorgeous weather, although the water was on the chilly side (most of us were in full drysuits). Had it not been as sunny....Hmm. I'd rather not think about spending a weekend *in* cold whitewater all day in nasty weather! Many important lessons to take home: Become a better paddler in order to become a safer paddler. Avoid accidents to start with. Rescues on rivers are NOT easy. Communication is hard. Ropes in the water are really dangerous. Knowing the people you paddle with--and practicing these things with them--is invaluable in the event of a real, time-critical emergency. Tiblocs rock :) |