"There was nothing we could do but watch"

Thursday morning: we loaded the boats and soon were underway. It was pushing noon but I soon found that I was the only one concerned with the time. Everyone else knew from experience that part of the fun on the river is the leisurely pace. There are sections of the Main Salmon where you relax and let the current do the work. Then there are others where you better know what you are doing and how to run each rapid. The guidebook offers tips but experienced rafters know how to spot the rocks and holes and best ways to avoid them. About a quarter mile past Phantom Creek we approached Rainier Rapid, a Class II that offered the biggest waves of any rapid we had seen so far on our trip. Just right of center we faced a large rock and hole. My friend on the oars used a cross handed stroke to move our blue Avon left of the hole, then turned our boat straight to run the rest of the rapid perfectly. He put us in an eddy so we could watch the next boat. The yellow catamaran was in the heart of the rapid. My son was behind on the yellow ducky tied to the stern. As they crashed into the wave train the ducky flipped and my son was in the water. There was nothing we could do but watch. My wife reached into the water and grabbed him by the arm. "Let him go, you'll dislocate his shoulder," her sister yelled. "Here, do it like this," she said as she gripped the neck of his life jacket and plucked him onto the yellow cat. They ran the rest of the rapid without incident. Afterward we laughed about the rescue, thankful that no one had been hurt. The river is littered with a lot of rocks and hidden obstacles in the rapids. We were warned that it wouldn't take much to hit your head on a rock or have your feet lodged and drown.