I've gone over the spillway on three different Muskingum River dams. No bike, but it was rougher than that and lost a little fishing gear on the way. When you get to the bottom an under tow pulls you right up under the dam. Daryl
Why would you giggle while your buddy is in a shit hole. It is one thing to watch videos of candidates for the Darwin Awards, yet another to witness a buddy enacting the Darwin Award.
Imagine a whirlpool. Usually, we look into a vertical whirlpool by being above it such as watching a toilet flush.
Now, imagine a horizontal whirlpool. Imagine tons of water pinning you in place. Imagine floating for a split-second, then tons of water submerging you while you rotate through. Imagine no escape.
During a water rescue workshop, we watched a movie of three rescuers in a (twelve-foot?) aluminum boat attempting to save somebody after they were caught in the tow upstream above a low-head dam. The rescuers went over the dam faster than I could blink. Every few seconds, the original victim, the rescuers, and the boat popped up in that horizontal whirlpool.
Cautiously approaching from downstream, more rescuers in a similar boat were abruptly pulled -- upstream! -- into the horizontal whirlpool, their bow filled with water flowing over the dam, and they joined the other victims.
Tons of moving water... continually replaced by more tons of moving water.
Seen here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_zPvSLemdA
The first rule in rescue is - DON'T BECOME THE VICTIM! And yes, I've done those water rescues while wearing ¾ hip boots and bunker coat (1980s). Then we wisened up and started wearing specialty gear. Look up Swiftwater Rescue Technician - it is a specialty all of its own.
Unless that's an incredibly shallow pool, that man is dead. Don't mess with drowning machines. (That's what the area under the weir of a low head dam is called) Hydraulic jumps are cool to see. Not to swim in.
Seriously, google drowning machine, it's horrible.
In the late 90s one of my neighbors died exactly that way. He tried to walk across a low head damn and got swept away. People could see his body swirling around in the vortex but it couldn't be recovered for a couple of weeks when a thunderstorm changed the water flow and it released him.
My small town had a couple of teen-agers who thought they were smarter than everyone else and took a small boat up close to the low head damn to do some fishing. Those on the banks tried to warn them off. The teen-agers told them to "F&&K Off". Just a few minutes later, the water took them under and pinned them. Rescue was unable to get to them safely. They finally popped back up several days later......after the dam was closed and the water finally receded enough to get to them. There weren't many at the funeral - majority thought they got what they deserved.
Yosemite! There is one set of falls where they mounted a steel pole in a rock near the top with a steel sign that was torch cut to read, 'Danger! If you go over the falls you will die!'. Pretty strait forward I think. During the spring snow melt there were several 'washing machines' heading down to Bass Lake that people got stuck in every year. Rescue workers would have to just leave them there till the water velocity dropped or the washing machine coughed them up. It could be days or weeks and sometimes the body just got pulverized and was never found. Mountain water, dam water or any moving water all have dangers that can kill. Its not a trial & error learning curve type thing.
Most people either never learned or forget that water weighs 62 or so pounds per cubic foot. if you're 6 feet tall, that's 375 pounds pushing on you if you're submerged. No way any human can survive that.
Joining the story list here. Mines from just a river hydraulic. Tree fell in, dammed up the flow, a big hole 8 feet deep was eroded. Enter 2 boys. They got caught in the hydraulic. Both survived after a human chain got close enough to pull them out. Drowning machines are scary.
I've gone over the spillway on three different Muskingum River dams. No bike, but it was rougher than that and lost a little fishing gear on the way. When you get to the bottom an under tow pulls you right up under the dam. Daryl
ReplyDeleteHelping to confirm my observations that climbing on a bicycle reduces your IQ to about 50.
ReplyDeleteNo, that is where they start. When they climb on it drops proportionally to the cost of the bike.
DeleteRussians.....
ReplyDeleteLow head dam. Surprised the clown with the camera didn't film his idiot buddy drowning.
ReplyDeleteWhy would you giggle while your buddy is in a shit hole. It is one thing to watch videos of candidates for the Darwin Awards, yet another to witness a buddy enacting the Darwin Award.
DeleteMoving water is unrelenting
ReplyDeletere:
ReplyDeletelow-head dam
Imagine a whirlpool.
Usually, we look into a vertical whirlpool by being above it such as watching a toilet flush.
Now, imagine a horizontal whirlpool.
Imagine tons of water pinning you in place.
Imagine floating for a split-second, then tons of water submerging you while you rotate through.
Imagine no escape.
During a water rescue workshop, we watched a movie of three rescuers in a (twelve-foot?) aluminum boat attempting to save somebody after they were caught in the tow upstream above a low-head dam.
The rescuers went over the dam faster than I could blink.
Every few seconds, the original victim, the rescuers, and the boat popped up in that horizontal whirlpool.
Cautiously approaching from downstream, more rescuers in a similar boat were abruptly pulled -- upstream! -- into the horizontal whirlpool, their bow filled with water flowing over the dam, and they joined the other victims.
Tons of moving water... continually replaced by more tons of moving water.
I do not see any possibility of survival.
Seen here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_zPvSLemdA
DeleteThe first rule in rescue is - DON'T BECOME THE VICTIM! And yes, I've done those water rescues while wearing ¾ hip boots and bunker coat (1980s). Then we wisened up and started wearing specialty gear. Look up Swiftwater Rescue Technician - it is a specialty all of its own.
not going to end well for sure.
ReplyDeleteUnless that's an incredibly shallow pool, that man is dead. Don't mess with drowning machines. (That's what the area under the weir of a low head dam is called) Hydraulic jumps are cool to see. Not to swim in.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, google drowning machine, it's horrible.
In the late 90s one of my neighbors died exactly that way. He tried to walk across a low head damn and got swept away. People could see his body swirling around in the vortex but it couldn't be recovered for a couple of weeks when a thunderstorm changed the water flow and it released him.
ReplyDeleteMy small town had a couple of teen-agers who thought they were smarter than everyone else and took a small boat up close to the low head damn to do some fishing. Those on the banks tried to warn them off. The teen-agers told them to "F&&K Off". Just a few minutes later, the water took them under and pinned them. Rescue was unable to get to them safely. They finally popped back up several days later......after the dam was closed and the water finally receded enough to get to them. There weren't many at the funeral - majority thought they got what they deserved.
DeleteCaution slippery
ReplyDeleteYosemite! There is one set of falls where they mounted a steel pole in a rock near the top with a steel sign that was torch cut to read, 'Danger! If you go over the falls you will die!'. Pretty strait forward I think. During the spring snow melt there were several 'washing machines' heading down to Bass Lake that people got stuck in every year. Rescue workers would have to just leave them there till the water velocity dropped or the washing machine coughed them up. It could be days or weeks and sometimes the body just got pulverized and was never found. Mountain water, dam water or any moving water all have dangers that can kill. Its not a trial & error learning curve type thing.
ReplyDeleteMost people either never learned or forget that water weighs 62 or so pounds per cubic foot. if you're 6 feet tall, that's 375 pounds pushing on you if you're submerged. No way any human can survive that.
ReplyDeleteNemo
Joining the story list here. Mines from just a river hydraulic. Tree fell in, dammed up the flow, a big hole 8 feet deep was eroded. Enter 2 boys. They got caught in the hydraulic. Both survived after a human chain got close enough to pull them out. Drowning machines are scary.
ReplyDelete