Kevin McMillan has been with Zoar Outdoor since 1992, he has worked as an experiential educator and technical specialist with corporate programs. He currently holds ACA certifications in river rescue, whitewater kayaking as well as being certified Wilderness First Responder. Zoar Outdoor, was established in 1989 as the first outdoor center on the Deerfield River in Massachusetts. Since 1989, Zoar Outdoor has offered the best in New England white water rafting trips, kayaking clinics, canoeing instruction, rock climbing classes, fly fishing and bike rentals for adventurers of all abilities, from beginners to experts.
Before starting a white water rafting trip you should always assume that your guests or crew knows nothing, and you should share as much information as with them as possible before you get going. Guys, you need to make sure that your helmet is on nice and snug, a finger or two under here is great, much more than that and it'll just come off your head as you go over backwards into the river. Your PFD stands for personal floatation device, make sure its on nice and snug, so you'll able to self rescue properly, if its on loose it just floats up over your face and its hard for us to see who you are and whether or not we want you back in the boat. Its also hard for you guys to see where we are and what direction you're supposed to swim in. Your paddle is uh, probably the most important part of your gear; this determines whether or not you're able to keep yourselves in the boat. Put your thumb under here, this hand over here, this hand all the way down here, for nice strong forward strokes and nice strong backstrokes and you guys will be able to help the raft guide get the raft where it needs to be going and keep yourselves balanced in the boat. You can see where the raft is an oval shape, with an outside perimeter too, sit on the outside tube, you tuck your feet under the tube in front of you, both feet inside the raft, that way, you're supported with your feet in the bottom and your paddle, every time you take a forward stroke you're pushing the raft where it needs to go and keeping yourselves balanced in the boat. Every time you lift your paddle up and scream you have a tendency to fall into the raft or out of the raft. If you fall into the raft, since it has an inflated floor you don't have to worry too much about it, just climb onto the outside tube again and continue on down the stream. If you fall out of the raft today, a few things you need to remember, you lay on your back, you point your feet downstream, which is the direction the river is going and you look for help. And then, you guys as a crew are going to help each other. If someone is floating by you, you grab them by the PFD, you look them in their face, shout out I'm going to save you, you fall over backward and they land on top of you. You guys can high-five, exchange phone numbers and then continue on downstream. It's pretty easy, if they're slightly out of reach, it's the only time you can let go of the T-grip, you offer them the T-grip, you pull them toward the raft, then grab them and pull them in. You as the swimmer, your responsibility is to lie on your back, feet downstream and look for help. You guys cannot stand up, if you stand up in the river, you can and you probably will at some point get a foot entrapment. It's where your foot or feet get caught in the riverbed, the water piles up on your bottom, back, and head and pushes you head first in the river and you stay there. You day goes from being kinda fun and goofy with your rafting guests to being tragic or at least complicated, it's hard for us to help you out if you get foot entrapment. So on your back, feet downstream, looking for help, you may be asked to swim back to the raft, so turn on your front and swim aggressively back to the raft. The guys carry a bag with about sixty feet of rope in it, its called a throw rope, if you're out of the boat, we may toss you the rope, put the rope over your shoulder and we'll pull you back to the raft and you guys can continue on downstream. Uh, if the whistle blows we'd like you to stop, figure out what's going on, we'll deal with that situation and then we'll move on downstream once we've taken care of it. Also I mentioned high sides, and it won't happen today, high sides is where a raft hits a rock and either sides up on top of the rock or sticks there. You can avoid that by listening to your guide and paddling, if you hit the rock anyway, the guide shouts out "high side", if you climb toward the high side of the rock, the high side of the raft, then the weight will come off the low side and you can spin off that rock, celebrate a close call, and continue on downstream.
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