Whitewater Rescues: True Stories of Survival, Bravery, and Quick Thinking

Read over 75 of the most compelling true stories of canoeing, kayaking, and rafting rescues ever submitted to the American Whitewater Accident Database.

Risk is a part of everyday life, but it takes a special person to grab a paddle and choose to navigate a canoe, kayak, or raft over whitewater. After all, when you mix people and moving water, accidents are bound to occur. Sometimes, inexperienced paddlers make terrible mistakes; other times, expert paddlers get caught in dangerous conditions. Regardless of the circumstances, these life-or-death moments can end in tragedy--or can become the setting for heroic rescues.

Charlie Walbridge has been a river guide, a paddling-related business owner, and a member of the American Whitewater Board. That’s where he began some of his most important work: maintaining their accident database and producing bi-annual reports of US whitewater fatalities. Over the years, the lessons learned and the practices developed from this information have saved countless lives.

In Whitewater Rescues Charlie shares more than 75 of the most thrilling true stories of survival, bravery, and quick thinking ever submitted to the American Whitewater Accident Database. The narratives are uplifting and inspiring, and they spotlight the courage and ingenuity of whitewater paddlers.

Read rescue stories about:

• Near drownings


• Pins and entrapments


• Injuries and resuscitations


• Evacuations


• Bonus: strategies for avoiding and managing risk

Charlie’s goal is to help paddlers stay safe by sharing what has worked for others. There is much to admire and learn from each of these stories. Perhaps they will also be useful to you.

Charlie Walbridge learned to canoe at Camp Mowglis in New Hampshire and started paddling whitewater with the Bucknell Outing Club in 1967. He was an active C-1 slalom and wildwater racer who worked as a river guide on the Cheat, Nantahala, and Chatooga rivers in the 1970s. His mail order company, Wildwater Designs, was known for the HiFloat Life Vest and the Throw Line Rescue Bag. In 1995, he closed the company and moved to Bruceton Mills, West Virginia, with his wife, Sandy. For the next 20 years, he worked as a sales rep for Northwest River Supplies in Idaho, serving whitewater outfitters from Maine to Georgia.

A longtime member of the American Whitewater Board, he maintains their accident database and produces a bi-annual report of US whitewater fatalities. As one of the first American Canoe Association trainers of swiftwater rescue instructors, he helped develop the program. He taught classes regularly for almost 30 years.

Charlie is the author of several books, including the Whitewater Rescue Manual and A Canoe and Kayak Guide to West Virginia, a revised edition of the publication that first brought him to the Mountain State.