Kayakers stuck under bridge - Darwin Award?

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2007/09/03/von.ma.kayakers.rescued.cnn

Wow, what a recovery!  These are very lucky people.

Actual Story:  http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/09/03/5_boaters_rescued_from_culvert/?rss_id=Boston+Globe+--+Today's+paper+A+to+Z

(This link above might be broken.) 

http://wbztv.com/local/local_story_246132405.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20568285/

Yikes.  There is actually a place like that on Cache Cr.  SCARY strainer!

Where is Cache Cr.?

I altered my orginal post after I read the article. 

In the video it appears, they encountered a 1 to 2' drop-over situated underneath the bridge.  Once they realized they couldn't go any further, due to the low bridge, and the high water level,  the river's current was probably too powerful to turn around, which forced them up against the side of the bridge, then eventually sucked them out of their kayaks, trapping them underneath the bridge. 

But here's the part I don't get.  How did they keep from getting sucked under water? 

Low level dams/drop-overs,  (and Class I rivers), are  often not recognized as a hazard to paddlers  because  the  drop-over level is so small and there aren't any rapids. (A low level dam is a 1' to 4' drop in the river, which may or may not have any structure.) However, the danger lies at the base of the dam/drop-over where  the water can hold a boat in place  and  where  the  water  circulation  is  powerful enough to pull you underwater even if you are wearing a  life  jacket. 

This video is a reminder why you should never paddle any river without first  scouting  for  white  water  conditions  or obstacles like waterfalls, fallen tree hazards, or a low level bridge or dam.   Also, remember  that  rainstorms or snow melt-off can create white water conditions that weren’t there  the  day before, and raise the water level too high so you are no longer able to paddle under a bridge.

 Lastly, a lot of rivers have very cold water temperature, which can cause hypothermia that  can make you sleepy, and confused and can lead to death if your body temperature drops too low.

This is also the reason why you're not suppose to stand up in a river, in case one of your feet gets trapped on a submerged water hazard, which could knock you off balance, and the force of the river, may prevent you from standing back up (or freeing yourself) - which could cause you to drown.


Photo Low Level Dam/drop-over  http://www.americanwhitewater.org/photos/archive/5370med.jpg

Cache Creek is in the town of Rumsey on Highway 16 off the 505.  They have a portage on one part of the river which you have to pull your raft out.  This water comes from clear lake and indian valley reservoir, and is a warm 70 degrees.

John

Thanks for letting me know where Cache Creek is located John.

I should have left up my original post. I was right about the metal grate.

I have further information on what happened. 

The original woman thought she could kayak under the bridge because there was amble space but she got stuck by a metal gate, called a swoosh gate, which allows water to pass through, but not a boater, which she apparently was unaware of prior to entering  under the bridge, but by then it was too late, because the current was too strong for her to paddle back up river, due   to the low level drop-over, which you can see in the video clip.

The woman called for help, which is when the man and woman in the tandem heard her, and they too got stuck for the same reasons.  That's when the man in the boat threw the man in the tandem out a line, who then managed to capsize his boat.  I think the blue kayak is his companions white water kayak that you can see trapped on the front of the bridge.

 I asked if there were any bouys which indicated the bridge was unsafe to paddle under, which there was not at the time of this incident any warning signs for boaters not to enter under the tunnel going under the bridge.

The real bummer is, the bridge is near the mouth of the ocean, and when the tide began to come back in, the space under the bridge  became smaller, until their heads were just above the water surface.

I have been in a similiar perdicament but not on a river.  I was paddling in Los Alamitos Bay, with a friend, at night where they have live band music play in the park in the summertime.  After listening to the music for a few hours, when we went to paddled back, the tide had come in, and there was just enough space for us to paddle through under the bridge. 

Our paddles knocked all the critters off of the bridge into our hair and down our shirts...it was pretty gross. They sure are super lucky!

  I didn't see (from that video) that there was any room at all to paddle a kayak under that bridge or even swim under. Very lucky people.  Scary

Evidently she thought there was enough room before the tide came in.  The video was taken about 45 minutes to 1 hour later when the tide was coming in.

Maybe that explains why she couldn't see the metal gate, because there was only a little bit of an opening left.

http://wbztv.com/local/local_story_246132405.html   Another video clip interviews kayakers.