| I can offer some advice on swift-water river safety. 1. avoid swimming in moving water unless you know it and everything downstream of it very well 2. if you're boating (canoe, tube, etc) on swift moving water always wear a personal flotation device. no exceptions.(a) 3. if you find yourself in moving water, swim lateral to the flow - never upstream 4. the safest orientation of your body is lying on your back, feet downstream (though this isnt the most effective for moving laterally, so this is best used through rapids, for example) 5. swimming across eddylines can be difficult. the easiest way is to do a torpedo stroke, which is like an alternating front crawl stoke / back stroke, with your body rotating around its long axis with each stroke. I would link to a video of it, but I cant find one... a) - i've swum in tame swift-water in downtown Denver w/o a PFD, and I've swum (accidentally) in raging swift-water with a PFD. The former was far more unpleasant, and resulted in more swallowed water. |