TRAPPED UNDER A KAYAK

As Told to Christian DeBenedetti
MY VERY FIRST THOUGHT was: Holy shit, you're in a vertical pin. It's a rare situation. Your kayak goes over a waterfall and sticks, standing straight up. My legs were trapped in the boat, and the force of the water on my back was folding me in half, battering me against the deck. I was completely underwater and running out of oxygen.

I fought, but my legs remained pinned. So I decided to break them.

We were in Little River Canyon, Alabama, in the spring of 1996, on a run called Suicide. There's a ten-foot drop to a short platform in the middle, then another 25-foot fall. If you go too far right on the last drop, you'll land on a big rock. But to the left, at the bottom, there's a square rock that you can get pinned behind. I went too far left, and my bow wedged behind the rock. The stern fell back against the falls, and the water pinned me. My friends said they'd never felt so helpless. They were only ten feet away, but because of all the water, they couldn't see me, even in a bright-red kayak.

I fought and got partway out of the cockpit, but my legs remained pinned. So I decided to break them. I clasped my hands together and reached out into the falls, hoping the force would snap my legs and rip me from the boat. Instead, my body became a lever, and it pried the boat loose. "Yes! I'm going to live!" I didn't feel any pain. But at the bottom of the falls, I couldn't walk. My legs just collapsed. I had torn a bunch of ligaments. I had to stay in the boat and run 12 miles of rapids—including three more miles of Class V—to get to the ER.

I'm not the kid I was then, but I'm not going to say I wouldn't run it again. I'm about to go kayaking right after this.

Expert Analysis: Vertical pins were more common with boats built in the nineties. But designs have changed over the years, and now the bows of creekboats rise up when plunging into deep water. Considering how small the cockpit in the boat was—and the force of the water—David did everything right, turning what could have been a recovery into a rescue. When running technical drops like this, groups should be prepared for the worst-case scenario. My advice: Always listen to your gut. —Chris Jonason, owner of Wave Trek Rescue, a company specializing in river-safety courses