Close calls are abundant within the packrafting community, serious injuries and fatalities have been rare. The consistent theme in these fatalities is getting separated from boats and partners, typically in cold and/or surprisingly swift (high) water. Separation has been due to rapids, inexperience, or high winds. Insufficient safety equipment (PFD and/or drysuit) was common in the earlier incidents, and perhaps less so more recently. You can also see a progression of the sport from Alaska-centric, to global, from 2009 to today.
There is a concerted effort to efficiently develop a “Culture of Safety” for packrafters in the hopes that we can skip the history of incidents that our peers in other water crafts have experienced. To the degree possible, these incidents were used to inform the content of The Packraft Handbook.
For a broader dataset, check out American Whitewater’s incident database.
I’m looking forward to not updating this page. Do your part to help!
- Map locations are general guesses.
- “Flush drowning” describes drowning by aspiration during a long/difficult swim, as opposed to entrapment or submersion.
21. Pshekha River, Russia (2023-04-18)
Probable Factors
- Equipment hazards (paddle leash, improperly fit helmet?)
Grade: Class III
Belarusian paddler Roman Khlebin, 39, capsized and drowned while paddling the Pshekha River, Russia.
As usual, the details are lost in translation, but here’s what I can figure out. Facts first.
Roman might have been part of a larger tour group rafting the river (mostly citizens of Belarus). But the incident seems to have happened as a group of four.
The team of four split into two pairs: Roman and a partner ran the Waterfall (Водопадный) Rapid, while the second pair set safety with throw ropes at the end of the rapid, at least 40 m downstream. This section of the river is fast-moving and continuous, with limited opportunities to eddy-out. Roman capsized and swam 10-12 meters and was then able to stand in an eddy. He appeared to be in control, with his packraft floating upside-down next to him.
The safety team was at the end of the rapid, 25 meters downstream. After seeing Roman in control in the eddy, they ran upstream to offer assistance. The shoreline is complicated and they temporarily lost sight of Roman during which time he was somehow swept back into the current.
Roman’s helmet came off during this second swim and he was found with a head injury.
This part is speculation: one of the team members suggested that Roman might have been entangled by the paddle leash that connected the paddle to the packraft.
Interpretation and lessons learned:
It seems like most of these case studies can be broken down into equipment, human factors (decision-making), and preparation/training.
Equipment: It is well-established that leashes don’t belong on turbulent water. When I read the report and came to that detail, I cursed out loud. It also sounds like Roman’s helmet might not have fit him properly. A well-fit helmet should not come off—that’s the point.
Decision-making: This team set safety, some members decided not to run the rapid, etc. This is all excellent.
Preparation: My instructor mentors often emphasize how hard it is to know and teach where to set safety. This is especially true in continuous rapids. Forty meters is not particularly long, especially in such swift water, and I suspect I would have set safety in the same position as this team. But this is what I really want to know … how do we learn to foresee all of the possibilities and set safety that truly protects the site?
References
Information from an event participant
Zerkalo news
Belarus news
20. Lake Rotorua, New Zealand (2022-10-26)
Probable Factors
- Solo
Grade: Open water
A Frenchman was reported overdue around the northern end of Lake Rotorua. Authorities recovered a “black and yellow inflatable kayak” on the 25th, and the paddler one week later.
Very speculative, but a nearby airport reported SE wind gusts of 44 km/h (27 mph) on the 25th. Wind is a common factor in open water incidents.
References
1 News: Search, boat found, body found
19. Tsaina River, Alaska (2022-07-16)
Probable Factors
- Unknown
Grade: Class III+/IV-
The Valdez search and rescue team responded to an inReach alert regarding a missing packrafter. The reporting party was reached and assisted within hours, and the missing packrafter was found, deceased, on rocks farther downriver. No other details are available at this point.
References
ADN News article
City of Valdez press release
18. Bugaboo Creek, British Columbia (2022-06-19)
Probable Factors
- Solo
- High water
- Improper equipment (packraft not intended for whitewater)
Grade: Class III
Virginia resident Peter Jolles, 46, was reported overdue at a Bugaboo Creek takeout, British Columbia, and has not yet been located.
Peter was visiting BC for an adventure race and stayed after the race to continue exploring the region. He road scouted a section of the Bugaboo and determined that it was below his skill level. I don’t know for certain which section Peter was paddling, but I see a 6-km stretch of Class II/III water that could be scouted from the road. A guidebook describes the area above and below this section as Class V. Neither Class V section is scoutable from the road.
Peter was wearing full personal protective equipment (dry suit, PFD, helmet). Peter was paddling alone, in an Alpacka Raft Scout, which is not intended for use in whitewater. Rescue personnel recovered Peter’s packraft but had to discontinue search efforts due to high water conditions.
Here’s the takeaway lesson for me (if I’m correct that he was on Class II/III water): Incidents rarely occur due to one obvious mistake. I appreciate the swiss-cheese model of incident causation to visualize this … incidents occur when a bunch of small holes line up perfectly wrong. In this case … it is likely that Peter didn’t get to see the hardest rapids from the road, he was in a boat that wasn’t designed for whitewater, the water was high, wood was likely in the river, and maybe the biggest hole: he was paddling alone. How can we prevent holes from lining up? A good starting point is to keep a visual of this model in mind, recognize and acknowledge all of the little decisions that can lead to an incident.
References
USARA statement regarding Peter Jolles
CTV News, Vancouver
17. Caples River, New Zealand (2021-11-22)
Probable Factors
- Effectively solo
- Presumed flush drowning
- Wood hazards were present and the boat was damaged, but nobody really knows what happened
- High water
Grade: Class II+
Stephen Andrew Bowler, 30, died in a packrafting incident on the Caples River, New Zealand. Rescuers responded to a PLB (personal location beacon) SOS call.
Stephen and two partners were on a three-day packrafting excursion. At normal water levels, the river is Class II with three gorges of greater difficulty. The first two gorges feature Class III/IV drops and frequent wood hazards. The water was high, estimated at three times median flow.
The group had committed to portaging all of the gorges, but Stephen re-assessed and decided to run the first gorge, alone.
Stephen’s boat was punctured and his helmet showed signs of impact, but not necessarily from this incident. He was wearing a life vest but not a dry suit.
References
Queenstown man killed in rafting accident was passionate about wildlife
River description: Caples River
16. Tama River, Japan (2021-09)
Probable Factors
- Paddle leash (entanglement)
Grade: Class I+
Two packrafters were paddling the Class I+ section of the Tama River (western Tokyo) when one paddler snagged on submerged or partly-submerged river debris—metal wire or a loop. The paddler was in their 70s, and it is suspected that their paddle leash snagged the debris. It is not clear if they were in the boat or swimming when they came into contact with the debris.
Thanks to Shimon Saito for collecting and sharing this information.
15. Eagle River, Juneau, Alaska (2021-09)
Probable Factors
- High water
- Entrapment (wood)
Grade: Class II/III (?)
There is not much information about this fatality yet.
Two packrafters swam in Eagle River (you can get a sense for the nature of the river from this video taken a bit upstream), with overnight equipment. Jeffrey DeRonde was trapped in river debris (I assume wood) and fully submerged.
Jeff worked in the boating safety sector of the Coast Guard (a competent swimmer) and had assisted/completed swiftwater training in May of this year.
References
Juneau Police Department information release (2021-09-07)
Juneau Empire article
14. Levaya Mama, Russia (2021-08-20)
[Higher resolution imagery via Esri]
Probable Factors
- Presumed flush drowning (difficult swim through rocks)
- High water
Grade: III
Three packrafters capsized in the Delicsky rapids (Деликские каскады) section of Levaya Mama River (Baikal region of Russia).
On 18-19.08.21 it drizzled, the water level rose. 08/19/21 we all successfully passed the Straight Rapid on the Levaya Mama River (category 3). 08.20.21 to 13:20 we approached the rapid of the Delikskiy cascade (category 3). During the passage of the rapid, all our three boats were overturned, two of us managed to reach the right bank. 2 packrafts and 2 paddles were lost, one paddle and 1 packraft remained.
Pyotr Kirienko was unable to swim to shore. His partners found him after thirty minutes and performed CPR, but recovery was not possible. The group was evacuated three days later by helicopter.
The party members discussed and identified these factors as relevant causes:
The rapidly risen water level, that had changed the complexity level of the rapid, overestimation of our own capabilities and underestimation of the severity of the obstacle were the cause of what happened. The immediate cause of Peter’s death was apparently the inability to swim out of the rapid “barrel” (reverse water flow [backwash]), possibly a stone hitting.
The team had helmets, but not drysuits. The water temperature was not cold.
The rapids consist of steep drops and boulder gardens, as described in this link: river description (go to [4]). This photo might be from this section of the river.
RefEreNCES
Thanks to Konstantin Gridnevskiy and Taras Popov for sharing this information.
13. Inzer River, Russia (2020-05-01)
Probable Factors
- Entanglement
- Solo
Grade: Class II- (?)
May 1st: A Russian man, Yalil Kuvandykov, was seen to overturn in his boat on the Inzer River, Russia. Rescuers were notified, but unable to save him. One article suggests that he was missing for days, but I suspect this is just a google translate issue.
What is clear is that Yalil had a leash attaching himself to the boat and was trapped by the leash (not the black rope in the photo below – that is part of the coaming). This is the first verified packraft fatality due to entanglement. Yalil also had fishing equipment and a perimeter line on the bow that ripped through one of the tie-down attachment points. It is unclear if these were involved in the fatality.
References
mkset.ru (Russian)
KP.RU (Russian)
Gorobzor.ru (Russian)
GTRK TV (Russian)
12. Lake Nahuel Huapi, Argentina (2020-01-29)
Probable Factors
- Wind (fetch)
- Cold water
- No dry/wet suit
Grade: Open water
An Englishman was separated from his packraft while attempting a two kilometer lake crossing in Argentina. “Nahuel Huapi took them by surprise with violent waves, hit their boats and threw them into the water.” A second boater was able to recover her boat, presumably re-enter, and paddle to shore. She was hypothermic when she reached help.
The paddlers were two weeks into a bikepacking trip. The article does not discuss prior experience but mentions that they had life jackets and insufficient insulation layers given the water temperature. The geography of the lake system provides 30 km of wind fetch before the crossing point. One-meter waves were reported on shore after the incident.
This is the third open water packraft fatality on record, highlighting the danger of open water crossings.
References
Bariloche2000 article (spanish)
11. Nagara River, Japan (2020-01)
Probable Factors
- Solo
- Entanglement by paddle leash
Grade: Class II+, III-
Facts are very limited because the boater was alone with no witnesses. A man was found submerged under a packraft, trapped in an undercut rock, mid-river. He had a paddle leash attached to his spray skirt pull loop. There is a challenging rapid 500m upriver, and it seems likely that he tipped there and swam until he was pinned on the undercut rock.
The rest of this is conjecture. Based on his YouTube channel, hidasurf might only have had three months experience, liked running steep creeks at shallow water (Class II-III), and was often or always paddling alone. He had a full safety kit (PFD, helmet, drysuit), frequently scouted rapids, and frequently swam.
Given that his body was recovered with his boat, I assume he was trapped with it. Youtube videos of his boat don’t show any perimeter lines, but do show a red leash connecting his paddle to the spray skirt grab loop. We can’t know for sure, but the leash seems most likely to have caused entanglement. I noticed a swim in one of his videos where he holds onto the boat by looping an arm through the deck combing, so that might have played a factor in his fatal swim as well.
References
https://www.gifu-np.co.jp/news/20200120/20200120-208121.html (Japanese)
Shimon Saito, personal communication
10. Brooks Range, Alaska (2019)
Probable Factors
- High water
- Cold water
Grade: Class II
Details are not public, but there was a fatality in the Brooks Range at high water. If you know details, please do not post them as comments on this page until (if/when) a public incident report is available.
9. Þingvallavatn Lake, Iceland (2019)
Probable factors
- Inclement weather (wind)
- Solo
- Cold water
Grade: Open water
Bjørn Debacker, a 41-year old Belgian Engineer, was presumably separated from his packraft due to wind and waves while crossing Þingvallavatn lake. Bjørn’s empty raft and pack were found on the southern shore of the lake, ~12 km away from where he camped the night before (northern shore).
8. Nass River, British Columbia (2019-08-28)
Probable factors
- Solo
Grade: Class IV
Romain Quénéhen, a Belgian on a roadtrip from BC to Alaska, went missing on the Nass River, BC, Romain’s packraft and backpack were recovered. Satellite imagery shows large rapids just out of sight from his probable put in. It is likely that the rapids caught Romain off guard.
References
https://www.terracestandard.com/news/search-called-off-for-nass-river-kayaker/
https://www.haidagwaiiobserver.com/news/belgian-man-linked-as-possible-missing-kayaker-in-nass-river/
7. Nizina River, Wrangell-St. Elias, Alaska (2018)
Probable factors
- No PFD or drysuit
- Cold water
- Limited experience
Grade: Class II
Aidan Don (22) and a friend were dropped off by airplane at Nizina Lake, intending to float the Nizina back down to McCarthy. The Nizina is Class II where Aidan flipped out of his boat, but very cold and choked with glacial silt.
Neither boater wore PFDs (or drysuits, I assume). There has been some discussion about how they were able to rent boats without safety equipment.
References
American Whitewater Incident Report
6. Lion’s Head, Matanuska River, Alaska (2017-07-15)
Probable factors
- Flush drowning
- Cold water
Grade: Class IV
Martin Rinke (63), an experienced boater, fell out of his boat in the Lion’s Head section of Matanuska River. Lion’s Head, Class IV, is known for its big hydraulics and difficulty distinguishing rocks from water due to both being the same gray color. The AW incident report mentions an IK and kayak, but Martin was in a packraft. Martin had considerable experience.
Marty lived above the Matanuska River near the Lions Head run. This was home water for him. Two weeks after running sections of the lower Mat with Marty he led the same group of 4 on Lions head. On July 15, 2017 river level was slightly higher than Marty’s highest run (number not recorded). Marty had extensive wilderness experiences throughout his lifetime.
All scouted and ran the first rapid as planned then pulling over river right. Marty then led the group from shore down stream. About 2 minutes into this run he went over a hole and flipped. He was seen to make 3 attempts to reenter his boat then appeared to rest. Moments later he went through another hole and was separated from his boat.
The second boater attempting to land river left flipped and lost his boat. The third boater noted Marty floating face up, pursued, caught and swam Marty to shore on river right, where CPR was unsuccessful.
The fourth boater exited river left then searched down stream with #2. After contact by cell phone they walked out to Mat Glacier view area. Nova Alaska Guides extricated Marty and boater #3.
All boaters had dry suits, helmets and PFD’s. Marty was swift water rescue trained, as was boater #3. All boats were Alpacka Llamas. Marty’s was custom extended approx. 2.5 inches to accommodate his long legs. He had a perimeter line in addition to bow and stern painters. #3 boat was lost when it was released to pull Marty from the water. In all 3 of 4 boats were lost; all were later recovered by good Samaritans and/or Nova Alaska Guides.
Lessons learned: Discuss rescue methods and plans before the run, practice boat reentry – often, have communication devices inside dry suit, have contact numbers for each boater and rescue services (911 did an excellent job in this case and could locate caller).
– John Quimby
References
American Whitewater Incident Report
John Quimby, personal communication
5. Kangerlussuaq, Greenland (2015)
Probable factors
- Inclement weather (wind)
- Solo
- Cold water
Grade: Open water
In the summer of 2015 a German paddler disappeared in the Søndre Strømfjord near Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. He was paddling down the fjord during a multi-day trip. He checked in with his PLB the evening before. It appears to have been windy on the fjord on the day he disappeared. The Søndre Strømfjord is an almost linear, 170 km fjord which can funnel strong winds from the ice sheet.
4. Tana River, Wrangell-St. Elias, Alaska (2014-08-09)
Probable factors
- Flush drowning
- Cold water
- No drysuit
- Significant experience, but considerable discomfort with water
Grade: Class II
As part of the Alaska Mountain Wilderness Classic, Rob Kehrer (44) and Greg Mills portaged the Tana River Canyon (Class IV), putting in below the technical features. The nature of the river at their put in was cold, silty, with large hydraulics, but technically Class II. Rob flipped in some of the big water hydraulics and was instantly separated from his boat and Greg.
Rob was wearing rain gear and a PFD. I believe he had some gear essentials (stove, etc.) in his pockets, which would have worked against his PFD’s buoyancy. It is likely that a dry suit would have made a huge difference. The Wilderness Classic participants generally do not use drysuits.
References
American Whitewater Incident Report
Greg Mills, personal communication
3. Katete River, Alaska (2012-06-22)
Probable factors
- Presumed flush drowning
- High water
- Cold water
- Solo
Grade: Unknown
Colin Buness (25) disappeared on a solo trip to the Katate, a tributary to the Stikine. Colin had considerable experience, including Class IV paddling and actively training to become an ANG Pararescue Jumper (PJ). Rescuers found his packraft in a log jam.
“We found his foot tracks in a gravel bar where we believe he had pulled in and looked downriver,” Tim said. “We think he was scouting out the canyon and everything looked good to him, but he couldn’t see around the corner of that bend, which is where we feel that he went into the water.”
References
2. Sag River (Brooks Range), Alaska (2009-09)
Probable factors
- No PFD or drysuit
- Cold water
- Limited experience?
Grade: Class II
Jaymes H. Schoenberg (22) and a partner used packrafts to cross the swollen Sagavanirktok River en route to Arctic Village. Jaymes overturned his boat and was quickly separated from his partner. He was not wearing a PFD.
References
Packraft Forum
Fairbanks Daily News Miner, page 1 and 6
1. White River, Alaska (1993-06-23)
Probable factors
- Solo
- Cold water
- No PFD
- Limited experience
Grade: Class II
This is the first packraft fatality on record, and predates the ‘modern’ era of packrafts designed for downriver travel, circa 2000.
“The body of P.K. [Peter Kysar], 28, of Alexandria, Virginia, was recovered from the headwaters of the White River near the toe of Russell Glacier on Saturday, July 3rd. P.K. apparently flipped his small raft shortly after putting in and quickly encountered violent waves and hydraulics. It’s believed that his body was held underwater for at least six days, as the area where it was found had been searched many times by dog teams, ground searchers and aircraft, including a military Blackhawk helicopter equipped with infrared radar.”
“P.K., 28, was reported to be three days overdue from an ambitious solo backpacking and float trip. He was dropped off by an air taxi at Glacier Creek and planned to hike the Chitistone Canyon, climb over Skolai Pass, cross the Russell Glacier, then float down the White River in a small pack raft. The total distance for his route was about 120 miles. He then intended to float to the Alcan Highway in the Yukon. P.K. was last seen about 15 miles into his trip on June 22nd, and was reported to have had sufficient food for only five more days. He also reportedly lost his prescription glasses in a river crossing.”
Additional details from a Washington Post article mention that Peter had limited experience rafting in cold water and was not wearing a PFD.
References
Wrangell / St. Elias NPS Incident reports
Washington Post article
Luc, thanks for caring, researching, and publishing!
I am a life-long whitewater kayaker and just getting into packrafting. Hardshell kayakers consider a PFD one of the five “essentials” – you don’t put on the water without one. And, you don’t paddle with someone who doesn’t have one on. Pretty depressing to see fatalities related to no-PFD.
As your data shows, a drysuit is also an important piece of safety gear – especially for packrafting because rolling up is unlikely and swims are more likely. Continuing to encourage drysuit use in the packrafting community is important. What I’ve learned is that you can be reasonably comfortable in a drysuit even in warmer weather – wear lightest layers or shorts under it. You will be warm, confident, and paddle more aggressively because you are not afraid to be in the water. If you get hot, jump in the river for a cool down.
Hi Jay, yeah, a $50 PFD and $600 drysuit might have saved three of these lives. In Alaska, I urge people to consider the cost of the drysuit as part of the packraft purchase price.
Alpacka made an incredibly light suit for several years, but I think the lightest option currently on the market is something like the Kokatak Swift Entry, 2 lbs.
I will soon own one of those Kokatats. My old NRS drysuit is heavy.
I like your approach of considering the drysuit as part of the initial kit & cost. I will adopt that when discussing with people interested in the sport.
-Jay
Anfibio is also making a really light, less that 2 pound, dry suit.
Even here in the Southeast, the rule is “dress for the swim”. I was appalled on a trip with outfitters in Alaska where we were told “your raingear will be fine”. The classic Alaskan boots we were given were a source of concern, as well.
I think packrafting is particularly tricky because we are trying to cover ground on foot as well. I often leave the drysuit behind, but it is always a calculated decision. I tried to synthesize a decision matrix, if interested, you can find it on the Alpacka Raft blog (https://www.alpackaraft.com/rafting/should-it-stay-or-should-it-go/).
Wow, glad you put this together, thanks. Is the Aug 24-25 class still a go? Tp
On Thu, Aug 15, 2019 at 6:53 PM Things To Luc At wrote:
> lucmehl posted: ” Close calls are abundant within the packrafting > community, fatalities have been rare. These are the fatalities I’m familiar > with; all but one have occurred in Alaska. The common themes in these > accidents are cold, surprisingly swift water, and insufficie” >
Damn brother. That’s a really heavy list. As always, thank you for doing this.
I have worn my Kokatat Swift Entry Dry Suit while running <50 degree water on the Animas with air temps around 85 degrees and the Gunnison with air temps of 95 degrees. I did not get hot or sweaty until I got off the water. Much more comfortable than I was expecting.
Another fatality I know of: in summer 2015 a German paddler disappaered in the Sondre Stromfjord near Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. He was paddling down the fjord during a multi-day trip. He checked in with his PLB the evening before – the last sign of life. It appears to have been windy on the fjord on the day he disappeared. The Sondre Stromfjord is an almost linear, 170km fjord which can funnel foehn winds fjord the Ice Sheet. Strong fjords winds are also common.
About the Iceland accident: victim was Bjorn Debacker, a 41-year old Belgian Engineer.
He camped on the northern shore of the Thingvallavatn lake the evening before he went missing. The next day, his empty raft and backpack were found on the southern shore, about 12km away. It appears to have been windy on the day of the accident. He probably fell out of his raft, got seperated from it, and drowned in the icy water.
Hey Luc, Thanks for putting energy into this. I’m happy that we haven’t had any fatalities in New Zealand that I’m aware of. But it’s only a matter of time. There was a rafting death on the Landsborough River recently…a really popular wilderness packrafting trip. It was initially (wrongly) reported in the news as a packrafting fatality. But it could have easily been a packrafter (everything leading to the fatality eg. Getting onto rising river, capsize and inability to get back into craft due to rising water levels, this river floods all the time and portaging the gorge is a bit of a nightmare bush-bash). I wonder if we should compile a few “near miss” case studies too. I have some friends with some gnarly stories. Too many people are afraid to share their near miss stories for fear of judgement. Reminds me of Sarahs IG post today – fantastic example of role modelling open sharing!
Hi Dulkara!
The APA Forum has a place for reporting accidents, but it doesn’t get any use. I’ve been in touch with American Whitewater about trying to get packrafts listed as their own category (they keep statistics on non-US rivers too). In my opinion, this would be the best place to list near misses since the AW site is already so mature. If AW isn’t a good fit, maybe APA would host something?
Thanks for putting this together and keeping the risks real. I had a close call with a buddy getting pinned to a log jam (inexperience and poor trip planning), he ended up climbing out of his boat onto the jam and I went downstream after his raft. That’s when I realized that we had failed to discuss recovery plans. He had no drysuit so if he had gone for a swim it could’ve ended very poorly. Definitely a near miss that could’ve been avoided by better route planning and scouting blind corners. I also had to beg my little brother out of doing the Nenana Canyon without a drysuit, I could’ve very well be sans 1 little bro at this point! All that is to say, thank you for compiling this, it helps to remind us of the consequences of one poor decision.
I bought the Kokatat Swift Entry drysuit with relief zipper. It is size large and weighs 2lb-4oz or 1024g on my scale.
Outdoor Play had a great price for a short period. I don’t know if that will come back around, but maybe worth watching their site. I took one swim in it (so far) and stayed totally dry and warm. I stretched the neck gasket over a large muscle-milk container for a day or two and it was still just a little tight. I don’t recommend trimming the neck gasket as you can easily ruin it – stretch it over a form and check it regularly so you don’t over stretch it.
Wow, I just found this. I can give a personal account of the Lions Head/Rinke incident. What is the best way to do that? (sorry could not figure out how to post a narrative – does it go here?)
I capsized in Iceland. It ended up being a two minute swim. Thanks to the drysuit and thermal layer, my core was 100% normal the whole time.
Were you on a lake? Big wind?
No, it was a swiftwater river between lakes at the Jokullsarlon Lagoon. Mostly Class II. I underestimated the river and capsized in a river-wide ledge. I was more used to Appalachian rivers, which tend to have big rapids separated by flatwater pools. So the takeaway is that glacial rivers tend to be more continuous. The other mistake was running solo. I cancelled a river trip the next day on that note and went day hiking instead.
Sounds like a good decision! Cold water is brutal.
Using a paddle leash on moving water is almost certainly a bad idea, and if done at all, the leash MUST be rigged to either disconnect or break under fairly light force. If the paddle leash is strong enough to hold a pinned boat or paddler in mild current, it is a potential killer.