Anybody know the story behind the canoe stuck in the first portage set of rapids/ waterfall? It was there when I was on my way out Tuesday afternoon. I believe it was a Piragis Rental Canoe.

I was on the portage right after it happened. All 3 were fine., thankfully.

The top is facing the current that's always a good sign (at least that's the way I see it).

Anyone ever see those and think about coming back with a pin kit to get it out of there?

Curious where exactly this is? Was it the rapids next to that first 60 rod portage heading north toward Lower Pauness?

I’d guess that having the top of the boat upstream will actually make it harder to free - too much water filling it like a wind sock. Might have to run the rope under the bottom and come back to the top to try to roll it before freeing it. At least that’s my arm chair de-pinning suggestion.

Digger07: " I was on the portage right after it happened. All 3 were fine., thankfully. "

So they decided to run the rapids?

"As long as there are young men with the light of adventure in their eyes and a touch of wildness in their souls, rapids will be run."
Sigurd Olson

I can see a canoeing getting sucked down there if the current is really flowing but the portage is very clearly to the left and I can't see how this would happen unless it was intentional.

The tendency when running whitewater and going onto a rock is to lean away. That then floods the wide open part of the canoe and puts tons of force on it. That much force generally causes it to wrap very badly. Also makes it much more difficult to unpin.

Whitewater paddlers are taught to lean towards or hug the rock. You don’t want to get between the rock and the canoe though. If the worst came you should try to be on the rock or in the Eddy behind the rock. If you lean towards you’ve got a better chance of the force of the water against the bottom riding the canoe up over or deflecting the canoe around one side of the rock.

I did tandem whitewater last year with Rapids Riders, and just finished the first weekend of solo. It’s an absolute blast and they do a superb job of teaching and safety!

Ryan

Digger07: " I was on the portage right after it happened. All 3 were fine., thankfully. "

I am curious when this happened.

They tried to run the rapids. The portage is very easy to see. They they made a terrible choice.

60 rod portage. They're lucky they didn't make it to the waterfall.

Wow looked at some YouTube videos of that creek and waterfall. Narrow width, big rock filled creek with a waterfall. Even in the picture where it was pinned you could see multiple problem rocks close to you and I wasn’t sure a way through even existed where it was pinned. Definitely not even close to runnable from what I could see. No room to maneuver at all especially with a big tripping canoe. Waterfall had a decent drop as well. They also weren’t in a canoe built for bouncing off rocks and powering through!

That was an expensive lesson for them! Wonder what Piragis charged them for the canoe?

Ryan

Gaidin53: "The tendency when running whitewater and going onto a rock is to lean away. That then floods the wide open part of the canoe and puts tons of force on it. That much force generally causes it to wrap very badly. Also makes it much more difficult to unpin.


Whitewater paddlers are taught to lean towards or hug the rock. You don’t want to get between the rock and the canoe though. If the worst came you should try to be on the rock or in the Eddy behind the rock. If you lean towards you’ve got a better chance of the force of the water against the bottom riding the canoe up over or deflecting the canoe around one side of the rock.


I did tandem whitewater last year with Rapids Riders, and just finished the first weekend of solo. It’s an absolute blast and they do a superb job of teaching and safety!


Ryan"

I mostly paddle whitewater solo and have always told myself I'd rather sacrifice the canoe to save myself from potentially getting caught between the rock and the canoe with nobody around to help get free. Plus if it doesn't hang up being downstream of a canoe in rapids is no good. On a really truly remote route though I'd probably be just as concerned about losing the canoe so I'd lean downstream as you say or just portage.

Is it possible that they just didn't bring the canoe up on shore while they were unloading and the boat caught the current and drifted down the rapids?

They admitted to what they were doing. They are a group of really good guys, They realized how bad they messed up.

Ah. Well, live, learn and pay up I guess.

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes as the saying goes.

Glad to hear they made it out safe. Must have been interesting to get an extra 3 people and gear(?) out of the BWCA.

Paying for a new canoe might be the cheap part of the bill. It's my understanding that its illegal to leave it there (might be wrong with that understanding). So they'd need to retrieve it, or more likely pay a team from Piragis to go get it.

Me and a buddy wrapped a canoe around a rock on an Outward Bound trip on the 11 Point River in Arkansas. Yeah you have to go 3 man after that haha.