Never Raft or Kayak Alone
Some people love being in the outdoors alone and getting to be by themselves with their own thoughts. I am definitely not one of those people. Perhaps it’s the youth camp I went to where they made me walk alone in the dark or perhaps its extreme nature of outdoor sports I practice, but I personally feel that the outdoors is not safe. I see plenty of influencers out there claiming the outdoors is their safe space, but let’s put the fortune cookie philosophy aside for a second and look at the boating side of outdoor sports. Humans are not meant to live in the water, it is not safe for us no matter how much gear we have.
With that being said we can mitigate risk by using Personal Protective Equipment, but that’s not enough. Boating is not a solo sport and the chance of you being able to self-extricate is pretty bad. When we look at the American Whitewater Accident Database for fatalities pins, entrapments, recirculation, and other failures to self-rescue account for 53% of all fatalities. It is likely that many of these fatalities had someone else present to assist, however if no one else is present to assist immediately then the chances of it just being a near miss drop dramatically.
Admittedly I have boated alone or on a 1 boat trip in the past, and through several near misses and dumb river luck I’m still here, but I feel like that is a statistical anomaly. Those experiences have taught me that 1 boat trips are such a terrible idea. The reality is in a raft whatever happens to the raft happens to the whole crew. This means that there just aren’t enough people around to affect a rescue regardless of how quickly you get out of the water. Entrapped boaters only have a short window to be rescued. Couple this with long communication delays and/or your emergency contacts not knowing what is happening on the river, you’re really pushing the margins of the amount of risk you can mitigate out there.
Why Shouldn’t You Boat Alone
Medical Issues: The outdoors is not a safe place and help is a long way away in a river canyon. Even a seemingly minor issue can become much more severe if you don’t address it immediately. Heat related illness, fatigue, or even un expected issues like allergic reaction go way worse with less people around to help manage it.
Swims: When you're alone, there's no one to assist you if you get injured or encounter unexpected challenges. You might be unable to call for help or receive immediate medical attention in case of an accident.
Entrapments: This one is one of the two nightmare scenarios for boaters. An entrapped person is basically useless in effecting their own self rescue. Additionally, the force of the water and they dynamics involved in actually rescuing someone entrapped requires multiple people acting in tandem since a mechanical advantage system would not be an ideal rescue tool.
Recirculation: The second of the two nightmare scenarios for boaters. A true bad recirculation requires teams to be ready and able to execute a rescue in under 2 minutes. Most people exerting themselves cannot hold their breath that long, and having someone form another boat setting safety so the recirculating victim can grab a bag before they pass out requires some preplanning to be effective.
Wildlife and Environmental Hazards: Being alone can make you more vulnerable to wildlife encounters or environmental hazards like bad weather or flow changes. Wild life encounters can be a little annoying to a big problem and wild life are more likely to run if they see a big group of boats. Weather and flow changes can also lead to several detrimental factors of rafters including trips taking longer or rapids becoming unsafe due to high flows. Cold weather moving in can also be a problem if you don’t pack enough cold weather gear, but more boats can carry more spare gear and could help the overall trip success in this scenario.
Gear and Equipment Issues: Boats rip, ropes fail, and paddles get lost. A second crew with additional paddles, rescue gear, or just a second boat you can all pile into and make it safely to an emergency egress point. 2 boats can carry a lot more redundant gear than just 1.
Psychological Factors: Loneliness and fear can set in when you're alone in a remote or challenging environment. This can affect decision-making and increase the risk of panic or anxiety which in turn can cause people to freeze up or make poor assessments of their situation.
Physical Limitations: Boating requires a lot of physical exertion. Having someone with you can provide motivation, help distribute the workload, and assist in case of fatigue or injury is hugely important. Additionally getting enough calories while you are on the river is a big concern so having a second boat packed with snacks is not only a good back up but they may pack better snacks that you did so, yeah bring cookies and you’ll always have a second boat who wants to go.
Informing emergency contacts, carrying communication devices like a satellite phone or a personal locator beacon, and running conservative lines can provide a level of comfort, there is not a lot of risk mitigation wrapped up in that. Having other boats crewed with people who have solid rescue skills is a much more effective way to mitigate risk from boating than self-evaluation of your own skills and no back up. Sefl evaluation of skill is unreliable because you can’t be objective about your own skills, so you have to make sure you mitigate risk another way. The only way to mitigate risk is to take steps to actively reduce risk, but 1 boat trips only increase risk.
Steps You Can Take to Mitigate Risk
Bring Another Boat: Being accountable to a partner can encourage safer behavior. More importantly though if you do have a boating accident, the second boat is likely not an accident victim as well so they will be thinking with clearer heads or can assist in the rescue.
Plan for Emergency Egress: In the event that you do get into trouble, search and rescue efforts can be more efficient if you're with others. They can alert authorities and provide valuable information about your location.
More Hands: Having more people available to assist is a major part of successful rescue efforts. If there is a particularly bad injury and moving the victim is not possible you will want to have someone stay with the injured party while someone else summons help.
Have a Communications Plan: Someone at home should know where you are and what time you expect to be back. In case of a major issue if you do not show up at the designated time, your emergency contact can summon help to the area that you were planning to boat.
