Last Wednesday, 26th September 2012, three of us from MMU Canoe Club took advantage of the rainfall and headed to the River Irwell in Bury to paddle from Nuttall Park to the Burrs Activity Centre. Upon arrival at the park the rain began again, and as we approached the bank to put on, the water was extremely high and running very fast:

We got on and within a couple of minutes we hit the gorge section, which I would say was pushing grade four. Not particularly technical, but rather severe in its volume, with very big waves and rapids:

About half way through the gorge we spotted something orange ahead, as we got closer we noticed it was a person wearing a life jacket, clinging to a branch. We immediately got out to see what we could do to get to him. I paddled over in front of him and got out as close as I could. One of my fellow paddlers, Louis, had run around (there was a bridge ahead) and got to a position above the man. He set up a rope from above and I clipped myself to a tree with a sling. Louis threw the rope to him which he caught, but kept hold of the tree until we instructed him to get hold of the rope with two hands (he also appeared to be pinned against a rock, which made it hard for him to get out of where he was) – once he let go and freed himself, keeping hold of the rope, we guided him to the bank and I stepped out to pull him in (the sling restricting me from getting dragged out in to the flow), and between us we managed to get him safely on the bank.

Meanwhile Liam had called for the emergency services. I stayed with the casualty, waiting for assistance while Louis went to get a jacket for him to keep warm. The man was bare legged (just in underpants) and barefoot as his trousers and shoes had been swept off him. His legs and feet were cut and very bruised. I spoke to him once I got him seated safely, ensuring he stayed put and not try to stand up. I asked what he was doing, he said “rafting”, I said who was he with, he said by himself. I asked how long he’d been stuck where we found him, he said about half an hour (it was probably less). I asked his name, where he lived and if anyone knew he was out, stuff like that. I reassured him we would get him out soon (we were stuck on the steep rocky bank at this point, with need of assistance to get him up to the path). He kept muttering things like “I’m too old for this” and “I’m not doing this again” – he told me he was nearly 50 (though the papers said 55). He was extremely cold, somewhat bruised and battered (though no serious cuts or gashes) and obviously very shaken up. I also noticed he had a scratch on his head (at this point it occurs to me he wasn’t wearing a helmet!) – he said he’d done it last week, on another river.

Shortly after, some rescue workers arrived on the path above and I signalled to them where I was. There were a few minutes of deliberation before they threw a throwline (Palm, might I add – the same ones we all had) down to me and instructed me to wrap it around both of us a few times – I did so, and they sent another one down telling me to do the same – so the two of us were now roped together with the ends tied to trees above. We heard and saw a helicopter above us, and more and more rescuers appeared above the bank. A few times they shouted things down to me, one of which was whether he could walk out. I didn’t think so but asked him, he said yes, so I relayed and added that he was barefoot. Some time later a couple of them (from Fire & Rescue) approached us from the side. They asked him his name and asked if he thought he could walk out if they guided him – he said yes but that he was concerned about sharp rocks, and complained of hypothermia. They shouted up to see if they could get him some shoes but didn’t in the end. They helped me unravel the ropes around us and said to leave them to walk him out. I was with him for about 40 minutes from getting him out of the water to leaving him in the hands of the rescue people.

I went round to where it was easier to walk up the bank, and was asked to relay the information I knew to the police and the rescue team. There were about 30 people from the police, fire brigade, paramedics and such – all standing by on the path above, and then I noticed the array of their vehicles along the narrow road! They managed to get him out ok and sent him to hospital. The rescue people told us he had described his craft as an “inflatable dinghy”. We were thanked by the team and eventually we headed back to our car.

Thanks a lot to the fire service who really helped us get this man to safety. Excellent service and fast response. I was impressed with how quickly they started to review the situation and analyse how they could have improved coordination of getting their vehicles to the right place.

The three kayakers had every piece of equipment going, including ropes, wet suits, helmets and mobile phones, and without them and their equipment the man would almost certainly have died – the water was staggeringly fast. When crews arrived, the kayakers were in the water with the man and he was up against the bank, practically unconscious. The crews secured him using rope lines to stop him going down into the water while the water rescue boat made its way to the scene.

He was suffering from hypothermia and some cuts to his legs and was taken to hospital for treatment.

~ Station Manager Kev O’Connor, Greater Manchester Fire Service

The man was very foolish to be out on his own in an inflatable dinghy in flood without a helmet. (four no-no’s for me!) The annoying thing is this sort of thing gives paddlesport a bad name – when it’s not even real paddlesport. We were definitely in the right place at the right time – and just as importantly – with the right kit. It’s amazing how useful a few slings, carabiners and throwline can be. We could have easily said “we won’t have chance to throwline each other on this river” and not taken them, but we did by habit. To be honest I didn’t take everything I would if I was leading a larger group – no first aid kit, no spare clothes, etc. This has reminded me it’s important to carry emergency kit.

It’s unlikely that anyone would have seen him to call for help. If we hadn’t have been there he’d have probably drowned, and then the papers would have said “canoeist dies in accident” – so at least we were there to turn the headlines around as well as rescue the guy.

Thankfully, some well-prepared kayakers were brilliant in helping the man and got our crews to the scene quickly and, with the professionalism and training of the firefighters, they were able to rescue this man. We hope he makes a speedy recovery from his ordeal.

~ Councillor David Acton, Chair of Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Authority

Here are some links to articles:
BBC News – Man in dinghy rescued from flooded river in Ramsbottom
Manchester Evening News – Canoeists help rescue man, 55, with hypothermia and leg injuries from River Irwell after rafting mishap
ITV News – Fire fighters warn of dangers of rivers swollen by rain
Greater Manchester Fire & Rescue Service – Man rescued from River Irwell after getting into trouble while rafting
Lancashire Telegraph – Raft man rescued from raging River Irwell
Prestwich and Whitefield Guide – Firefighters rescue rafter from river
Bury Times – Firefighters rescue rafter from river

Also here’s a photo of today’s Manchester Evening News with the picture the fire service took of the three of us:

For what must have been the second time ever we paddled TWO RIVERS in one day.

We met at the container for a nice early start at 8am and as we have discovered the fewer the people loading the van the less time it takes surprisingly since it was 
down to me Sam and Lauren we were soon under way, quick stop off to grab leif and Ben. We arrived at the first river at a record breaking 1030am after a quick glance 
at the river we were less than raring to go as the Lune was running quite low at the get in (0.36 on the Ea gauge at Killington bridge) but as we soon found out the 
trip is well worth making in low levels!

After a little bit of bumping and scraping our way down we stopped to let Ben catch up with some cold water rolling practice. First few drops were a little disappointingowing to lack of water however when we entered the Gorge sections we were pleasantly surprised with the rapids since our last trip they had changed some what from a  fortnight ago becoming tighter and in some cases more technical. One of the later rapids that is very shortly followed by a narrow chute was a fairly interesting feature which was ran more than once on Sam’s first time round he experienced the tow back of the small stopper at the bottom of the drop which to our amusement forcedhis boat under the water and then quickly popped him back out in a spin. On bens second run of the drop he became pinned sideways on the small chute thankfully Leif easily grabbed his boat and span him round.

The next notable section referred to as the strid warranted inspection in these low conditions, so we got out of our boats headed up onto the large rocky top of the 
gorge and discovered after the first blind left there was a huge rock in the middle of the section virtually impassable, we walked to the end of the rapid where we 
stood on the edge of the high rock looking down into the deep pool at the end of the Strid, when faced with the challenge from Ben to jump in I did shortly 
followed by  Lauren, Sam and Ben, Leif  took a bit more encouragement. After a lot more jumps and some photos including Ben’s epic starfish(see below) we were on our 
way again.

Since out last trip here some more interesting features had developed a number of again small fun little rapids, one of the later ones had a chute that you could nearly  fit a boat through sideways we know that because Ben this is where Ben got pinned for the second time. This time he was well and truly stuck and this time in muchnfaster flowing water making it much tricky to get him free, both me and Leif were  trying to get him free we had no luck. Eventually with some help from Sam 
and Lauren we stabilised his boat and lifted Ben out, The boat then took some time o wrangle free. A short way down river we reached the get out and loaded up the van 
Ben and Lauren in with the boats.

We reached the get in for the Kent just a few miles from the Lune with help from Bens Phone Not! After having a quick look at the river we decided that we should get 
in at the fall just above Sedgewick bridge and just run the last section, Leif and Lauren dint paddle but acted as our camera crew on this one. The drop was very nice 
in low water it was more technical than before and required split second timing to get the line through it right. On the previous paddle it was just a drop with one 
big wave. The three of us paddled down it then me and Ben decided we wanted to run it again, after which we carried on down to the L shape Weir which had shrunk 
considerably can could be paddled as previous extreme left instead we went river right in between the rock wall and the sticky corner of the drop both of which 
should be avoided.

we paddled down and got out to inspect Force Falls. As expected the feature was much changed (see comparison of inspection photos). Leif and Lauren had set up on the 
adjacent bank with the cameras and managed to get some great shots. After watching ben run it me and Sam shortly followed at the bottom me and Ben decided we should run  it again. ON our second runs we discovered that we could run the feature much farther left and instead of avoiding the big rock land on it and be sent gliding right over it which turned out to be great fun and as a result I ran the drop 5 times and Ben 6.

We paddled to the get out hauled up the boats when getting changed i realised having paddled in the shorts i had came in I dint bring any trousers so had no choice 
but to where my long johns around Kendal where we went for fish and chips I received some very strange looks from the locals.

A great days paddling with some awesome snaps to accompany it enjoy! (Photos to be uploaded tonight)