Swim from hell on Clear Creek Narrows

Dude, you totally ruined my trout fishing that day. Next time please try and keep the arm and leg flailing to a minimum.

Thank you for posting this. It must be terribly humbling to have so many strangers on the internet tell you what you did wrong, but things can go really bad really quickly and it's so informative to see that from a first person perspective. Posting this video may prevent someone else from doing the same, and end up saving their life.

Charles- you nailed it! As the newb that I was, the panic set in before the swim ever happened, and then I used nearly all of my energy fighting in the original hole. Add to that the fact that I was not wearing a full dry suit and you can understand why I had very little to fight with once I finally flushed got out into the main current. I hope people learn from this before they go "try this at home"

I really appreciate that you shared this video. The conversations it ignited benefits us all. Glad you made it out safely.

I know people have commented on the importance of active swimming.....Here is my 2 cents:  I learned that you can only expect 2-3 good bursts of energy in cold water.  This makes it even more important to conserve your energy when at all possible.  Easier said than done considering you started your swim in a really strong eddie / hole.  After you emerge from that spot, it's very important to keep your feet downstream looking for possible eddies to swim to (keeping in mind you have 2-3 good attempts).  Another benefit to keeping your feet up /  eyes downstream is that you can keep a calmer breath since you're able to anticipate the "under" moments.  A calmer breath will result in more energy.  If you're not looking well downstream, by the time you reach that perfect eddie, it's too late to swim to it. Glad to hear you're still boating.  I had a scary pin situation recently and it took me a while to get comfortable on the water again.

Thanks for the video. im sure you've heard enough trash talk, but I'll say that the lack of proper skills was instantly apparent. Get your edge control down, lean the boat into rocks that you are up against and lean away from any strong current pushing on your boat. You gotta get more aggressive driving your boat. Choose where you want to go or not go and then give a few good strokes to get there. You were kind of just floating on down wherever and pointing your boat at stuff. And boof holes like the one that flipped you. You should have been pointing straight, had some speed, and boofed and it would have been smooth as butter. Learn the basics, get some skill, and act calm and in control. It's not some crazy adrenaline junky thrill ride... I'm sure you'll learn all this stuff and you'll have a blast paddling. As for the rescue... Saw a lot of opportunities for where that swim should have ended sooner. Your buddy should have been towing you into an eddy, but instead he was trying to paddle upstream while you pulled him down the river backwards. Not a real safe place for you to be ... Good way for you to be sandwiched between a rock and your buddy's boat. He should have turned his boat downstream, picked an eddy, and driven towards it... You get the picture. Not trying to preach. (Totally preaching) Have fun out there and be safe!!!

your boat seemed to find an eddy just fine....

the best form of rescue is self rescue. swim like a mother for those eddys people. glad you made it mate that was full on

I really wish I had time to reply to all of the comments, but obviously that won't be possible. Simply put, I appreciate them all. I know I am very lucky to have made it out of that river alive because I didn't have an ounce of energy left in me at the end, and I wasn't in my drysuit. I have taken a lot of what you guys have said to heart and am making serious changes. I want to say a special thanks to WyoPaddler for his extremely helpful criticism, and for not being afraid to hurt my feelings.

Moten- I appreciate input. Humility is somewhat easy to feel for me since I start from a place of not knowing what I'm doing and, although the comments have been widely varied, I have found a lot of good feedback and many new friends from it. I do hope other newbies will heed the lesson

Glad you made it, pal.  Made me feel sick watching that.  I'm sure you get all kinds of shit, but i'm glad you've posted this and are taking the online whitewater community's responses in stride (and to heart).  SWR was a good move.  Most folks who are serious about it have stories like this one in their background.  Let's keep safe out there...

Great to hear that you did not quit boating an trying to improof your skills!!!! That was really hard to look at :) Even me as a beginner saw that this run was no good idea from the verry first seconds on... Nervous and shakey - i know that by my self :))) thanx for posting

It would be interesting to see some of the back story on how you decided to run this particular stretch of water. Did some friends tell you, "Hey, we can get you down it."? Were you taking a personal guided tour? How long have you been paddling? Are you usually much better than this but just having a really bad day? Those variables could affect the type of comments that would be useful to you. But, on visual evidence alone as others have already noted, you appeared quite passive in your swim.

This was like the movie "Gravity" condensed into 6 riveting minutes.

It was tough swimming it, but thanks for watching and commenting. I hope no one ever has to take a swim like that again.

First of all I appreciate you putting this video up and asking for tips that could improve your/our safety while enjoying rivers. I have had a few long swims myself and what I learned was that its very important to work on your CARDIO in order to be able to swim harder and fight when you find yourself in trouble. You appeared to not have any energy when you swam. Its important to be able to swim aggressively when needed, so work on your aerobic capacity. Have fun out there!!! thanks

Assuming the Safe Swimmer position, while necessary at times, tends to keep you away from the sides of the river. At some point it is necessary to crawl stroke very aggressively toward an eddy. There is a set stroke taught in swiftwater rescue to actually get over the eddy line. This is a rolling from side to side with arms extended. The other major point is for your rescuers to give you instructions and for you to follow them. You can swim to the side of the river better than someone can pull U

Thanks for this video. My 14 and 8 year old are wanting to get into my habitat and a jackson doing runs with me. You can only do so much explaining scenarios but seeing it defines it all especially with hydrolics. They have not seen me in falls that I have been caught in but have seen me go for a swim a couple of times. Lol

Thanks for posting john glad you made it out ok. Love the shoe floating by your foot when your sading on the rocks when you climb out. This vid will help a few folks i'm sure or make them think anyway. Good luck

Way over your head-- both as a boater and a swimmer. Prerequisites for paddling water like that (class V or IV+ creek) is: a. strong roll and the ability to do it over and over while getting tossed and slammed; b. strong swim and the ability to stay calm and breathe through the rough and swim like mad when the opportunity presents; c. strong paddling skills to stay on line and not lose your balance in a little turbulence; d. a good paddling partner to help when all goes wrong. You had the last one, but that's it.