Warning to river rafters this weekend

[Burninator]

Calgary’s renegade river rafters beware — the city’s cracking down this weekend on water-borne mayhem.

Following a spate of drownings and injuries on the Bow River often carried on a tide of a miscreant behaviour, it’ll be all hands on deck among city police, fire and bylaw officers, said city spokesman Bill Bruce.

Fines for not wearing a lifejacket is $150, for open alcohol, $230 and littering penalties range from $100 to $300.

http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/...9/4352762.html

Ok the Bow I can see, but the elbow? Come on. You have a better chance of drowning in your bath tub than that river. This city is great at taking something that is fun and throwing security, safety measures, and fines at it to make it go away.

If you think the city is bluffing. The police stopped by friend from going in the river a couple weeks ago because she didn't have a life jacket and had beer with her. But it sounds like now they will just write you a ticket, instead of giving you a warning.

[ricosuave]

thin out the herd, i say

[alltherage]

Damn it, that is rediculous. No wonder all people ever do in this bloody town is drink. There is literally NOTHING LEFT TO DO.

[SaskaBushFire]

God forbid the Police want to prevent people from drowning... those s and their necessary saftey precautions!

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by Burninator

Ok the Bow I can see, but the elbow? Come on. You have a better chance of drowning in your bath tub than that river. This city is great at taking something that is fun and throwing security, safety measures, and fines at it to make it go away.

I have to disagree. With the weir incident I was concerned that they might be steps being made to ban rafting. IIRC they have already banned the use of power boats on the river. What is so difficult about wearing a life jacket? Oh, no- not tan lines! Oh the humanity!

If you want a tan, then go to Fabutan or lay out in your back yard. If you want to drink, there are a bunch of places to go out drinking in this city.

[burn_baby_burn]

Originally Posted by SaskaBushFire

God forbid the Police want to prevent people from drowning... those s and their necessary saftey precautions!

If people want to drown that is their own business. Just take money from their estate to pay for the recovery.

[Cerebral]

Originally Posted by alltherage

Damn it, that is rediculous. No wonder all people ever do in this bloody town is drink. There is literally NOTHING LEFT TO DO.

There is nothing left to do in this town because the police are going to force rafters to wear life jackets and stop littering/drinking?

[Dion]

Good for the police! And if people run into trouble they expect the fire dept river patrol to come to their rescue. To be floating down the river without a life jacket, plus with beer is an incredibly stupid thing to do.

[Alana Flames]

Have you ever been on the Elbow? You have to get out an tow your raft sometimes because it's so shallow. Life jackets in the bow for sure, but not the elbow. And the people that drowned going over the weir- life jackets wouyld have made it worse. The only way to get out of the current from the weir is to swim DOWN.

I've been rafting down the elbow many a time, and not once have I, my friends, or anyone I've seen littered, so that's not a concern... and besides that has nothing to do with beer, people drinking pop or water could just as easily litter.
I've never understood why there's such an outrage to people having a social beer in public. It's dumb to get wasted and go white water rafting but the elbow is so tame.

I think rafting is such a harmless, fun activity. It's also one of the few thigns left to which doesn't cost anything.

Aren't there gangs and drug rings to be worrying about???

[Burninator]

I never said I had a problem with enforcing the life jacket bylaws on the BOW RIVER. I was talking about the ELBOW RIVER. You can't take a power boat on the elbow river, it's impossible. So they can't patrol it either.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by Alana Flames

And the people that drowned going over the weir- life jackets wouyld have made it worse. The only way to get out of the current from the weir is to swim DOWN.

Right, but that's an entirely different danger all together. Most people who die on the river don't die going over the weir. Just happens the most recent drownings happened there.

Oh, and BTW- everybody who was with the people who drowned who were wearing life jackets survived.

Originally Posted by Alana Flames

I've never understood why there's such an outrage to people having a social beer in public.

What about having a social beer while driving your car? Are you in favour of that? I have zero problem with a social beer in public. The issue is somebody having one too many on the water, getting into trouble, and then getting killed.

Eliminate the one variable that proves to impair your judgement and will also cause you to succumb to hypothermia, and now you have given people a fighting chance. The bottom line is they had always turned a blind eye to it; until it started becoming the next place to get hammered. So they are stepping up enforcement.

Originally Posted by Alana Flames

Aren't there gangs and drug rings to be worrying about???

I've never seen any gangs on the river, and the last time I checked the police use a boat that is not amphibious- so they can't really go patrolling the streets in a power boat.

Yes, that last bit was a little sarcastic, but the job of the police is to protect the public. And it seems to me we lose about as many people on our rivers each year as we do with gang violence.

[Alana Flames]

Originally Posted by ken0042

What about having a social beer while driving your car? Are you in favour of that?


I've never seen any gangs on the river, and the last time I checked the police use a boat that is not amphibious- so they can't really go patrolling the streets in a power boat.

Yes, that last bit was a little sarcastic, but the job of the police is to protect the public. And it seems to me we lose about as many people on our rivers each year as we do with gang violence.

Ya actually I can picture it now: A high-speed drunk rafting accident- Paralyzes all passengers for life and the Man at the helm of the paddle had been drinking! Gimme a break.

And as Burninator said- they can't even use a power boat in the elbow-it's too shallow. And what I was implying is that perhaps their time would be better spent on more serious issues (not the elbow river...once again I said I was in favour of patrolling the bow).

And as far as people drowing being comparable to gang violence- NO ONE DROWNS ON THE ELBOW!! I said I was in favour of life jackets on the bow. But the elbow is ridiculous.

[ricoFlame]

Originally Posted by alltherage

Damn it, that is rediculous. No wonder all people ever do in this bloody town is drink. There is literally NOTHING LEFT TO DO.

when floating down the river getting drunk without a lifejacket is all you have to do there are some deeper issues you have to deal with.

[OutOfTheCube]

You could always go out of the city and raft on a REAL river.

Oh yeah, but all anyone wants to do is get drunk, hence the complaining.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by Alana Flames

Ya actually I can picture it now: A high-speed drunk rafting accident- Paralyzes all passengers for life and the Man at the helm of the paddle had been drinking! Gimme a break.

If you refuse to watch the news, then I really see no point in continuing this discussion. Last year what you described happened. The "experienced person" on the raft was drunk, the raft slammed into a bridge pier at a high enough speed to cause at least two deaths, and send most of the other rafters to hospital. A persons head hitting solid concrete at 25km/h is enough to cause enough damage to cause a person to drown.

It happens, it's an issue, and it's being dealt with.

Originally Posted by Alana Flames

And as far as people drowing being comparable to gang violence- NO ONE DROWNS ON THE ELBOW!! I said I was in favour of life jackets on the bow. But the elbow is ridiculous.

I was discussing river rafting safety on Calgary's rivers. You are the one trying to divide them; when in fact the Elbow flows into the Bow, right? So what happens when a rafter enters the Bow and doesn't have a life jacket? Besides, the law is the law. Just as I am required to wear my seatbelt when I move my car from the front of the house into the lane, people on Calgary's rivers must wear life jackets.

What you are asking for is a risk assesment to be completed on each and every river, creek, and stream to determine if a life jacket is needed or not. And then what time of year, what past rainfall has there been, and many other things need to be assesed to determine if that life jacket is needed. I think that would be a far greater waste of taxpayer dollars that could be better spent on perhaps the gang unit of the police to try and catch those previously mentioned gang members you were so worried about.

And keep in mind you don't even have to wear a life jacket; a PFD is quite sufficient for most circumstances. I paid less than $30 for mine- I got one that fits me well and is very light weight- I really don't notice that it is on.

Bottom line is the city doesn't want to see people getting killed on our rivers. So there's a couple of simple rules to follow, and they made the rules as easy to follow and understand as they possibly could. They could have required boaters licenses, required safety inspections of our rafts, all sorts of things. But they didn't. All they want is the same rules so that as you go down the Elbow in your 5 chamber raft with a re-inforced hull you follow the same simple guidelines as the people who decided to launch a camping mattress down the Bow river. (And I have seen the latter done, and seen the ensuing arguement between the rafters and the fire department regarding live jackets.)

[Flame On]

I was down there and the drunken frat boy mentality was unreal. It p***ed me off that they clamped down so hard on the red mile yet this was similar in terms of open drinking and other issues yet no presence at all.
Also its just a breeding ground for skin cancer, we're all going to be paying for this in the health care system years later. The amount of people coming out lobster read is too funny.

[lifer]

I have a question for people who have swam in the Bow. Did you find it difficult? I'm an above average swimmer, but I'm not great. When I go rafting with my buddies I'm the guy who gets out of the rafts to swim and to pull the rafts to shore. I've never felt like I was in any danger. There are very few places were I couldn't touch the ground, the current isn't that fast and the water isn't even cold. That makes me giggle at this type of sensationalism from the article.

"You’ve got to be wearing a life jacket — if you hit an obstruction on the Bow, unless you’re an Olympic swimmer, you’re done.” - city spokesman Bill Bruce.


Anyway, I'm not here saying you shouldn't need to have life jackets, because my friends and I ALWAYS do have them, we just aren't always wearing them. I generally have mine in my boat, underneath me where I can get it on in a couple seconds if I must. Just having a life jacket with you is protection enough when you're in a boat on a lake, ocean, or other river. I don't know why the laws concerning Calgary rivers need to be so much more strict.
Unless I'm wrong and you are supposed to have a life jacket ON in the other bodies of water.

[Scrambler]

I have to admit that I really miss doing the Bowness to Eau Claire route down the river. The Fraser River out here is just not something you put your rubber dingy into!

Anyway, I have to admit that me and my buds were ones that would take a flat of beer onto the raft with us, all the while having our lifejackets on board, but not worn. We were always well behaved and brought our beer cans back with us.

Those were good times: hot sun, cold beer, hot girls, camaraderie with other rafters, etc. But I can understand why they'll be patrolling with more force based on what's been going on these days.

[Bosterich]

rafting rocks!

[Alana Flames]

Originally Posted by ken0042

If you refuse to watch the news, then I really see no point in continuing this discussion. Last year what you described happened. The "experienced person" on the raft was drunk, the raft slammed into a bridge pier at a high enough speed to cause at least two deaths, and send most of the other rafters to hospital. A persons head hitting solid concrete at 25km/h is enough to cause enough damage to cause a person to drown.

OK, I was really not trying to cause a great arguement here. But, again, I suspect this happened on the Bow. Which I've already said I agree with patrolling. I can't imagine anyone ever going 25km/H on the Elbow- and if they were, it would be very unusally high, in which case it's a different case. I'm talking about the elbow under normal conditions. Also, most people drinking aren't wasted, just enjoying a couple beers on their weekend. If they are really drunk, that's a different story all together- just like someone pissed drunk even walking down the street is a danger to themselves(traffic, other people, temperatures, whatever).

If I were on the bow I would be wearing a life jacket and not drinking, because it's a different kind of river, much faster, deeper, more current etc... My point is that they may be over reacting to the situation on the elbow.

And I watch the news almost every day. In fact, I'm entering my third year at the University for a degree in broadcast.