Guest blogger: Stephan's flip on the Thompson

Guest Blogger Name: Stephan Selase Avorkliya
School: Rochester Institute of Technology
Job: Intern- Student Engineer (payloads, interiors, insulation systems)
Rafting trips: 2

The river started really calm. We were just talking and only had a few "all forwards" from time to time. Our guide Gary told us what we had ahead of us - a class 3 and then a class 4 rapid. At this point we were still 10 or 15 minutes from the class 3. I had no clue how far away the first one was nor how close the class 4 was from the class 3.

As we approached the class 3 rapid, Gary pointed it out to us and we tried to figure out why it was named Frog. We made it through Frog with the only problem being the screaming from the girls in the raft. We were all pretty excited and took our focus off the river to discuss our most recent accomplishment. As far as I knew and could tell all we had immediately ahead of use were some big waves and probably more easy rapids for a few minutes. I just assumed there has to be a calm before the storm that is the class 4.

We approached the big waves still saturated in pride and excitement from Frog. The waves were big enough that I did paddle air a couple times. We went up and down and up and... flipped! We just flipped and I had/have no Idea what happened between the time that I was paddling and the time I realized I was under the flipped raft. For the next five minutes my thoughts were not what they should have been if I had known that the class 4 was just a few hundred feet away.

The first thing I remember going through my mind when we flipped is "OMG did we really just flip? So this is what it’s like to be under a raft." After that second or two of being amazed, I figured it would probably be a good Idea to get out from under the boat and get some air. I can't say that I was calm and relaxed the whole time, but I certainly wasn't panicked or even scared really. When I got to the outside of the raft I grab the nose handle at the front of the raft and looked around. I could see Ashley, Kat, and the guide’s fiancé holding on the side of the raft. Alex was floating away about 15ft from the raft, and Will (Ashley's friend from home) was just a hand’s reach away from the raft trying to get back. I reached out and pulled him towards the raft. At this time I realized the current was trying to take my shorts from me, so I looked over to Ashley and said "I think I need to re-tie my shorts, they’re about to float away!"

By this time Gary was on top of the flipped raft and about to try and flip it back. He handed me his guide paddle and started doing his thing. By the time I secured his paddle and my paddle with my free hand, everyone was being pulled in other rafts. I could hear the screams from the other boats and Gary, but I wasn't in the position to easily make to one of those rafts. After the second attempt, Gary was about to flip the raft back over and we both started to try to get back in the raft. I was in no major hurry, because I still didn't know that a huge rock in the middle of the river had plans for us. Gary, however seemed to be in a hurry (not a panic but urgent), but I figured it was just because we just flipped. Once we both got in, we both got locked in in the middle of the raft, paddled twice and then Gary just told me to hold on and stay in the raft!. By now I knew this was the big one.

We both made it through the rapid in the boat and started trying to get out of the main current to pull off to the side. This is where the strength people assume I possess was put to the test. We tried and failed to get out of the flow for about 10 minutes. In this time I also managed to fall out again. At some point Alex was transferred to our boat and Gary went back to the guide position. A few minutes later another raft told us that our 5 gallon bucket (brought along for water fights) was in the water working against us; it was an anchor! Alex went up and pulled it out, and we both just paddled as hard as we could until we were able to make it out of the current and parked by the rock people jump off. This is where we had lunch.

The rest of the trip was as planned, but we did do a better job as paddling over waves. Overall I think it was a good experience. I can now say that I've had the full rafting experience. I even got to go with two people without paying extra. I would go again if I had the chance, but my summer will be over in less than a week, and I'll be headed back to school. I think it’s an event that bring people closer, and gave me a good story the Monday after.