Spokane River photo sequence: whitewater paddler reacts to ejection from raft
WATERSPORTS -- The Spokane River is in prime form for whitewater rafters geared up properly with dry suits and good life vests. As you can see from this sequence of photos, it also helps to have good partners.
The first photo shows the first of two paddle rafts full of Peak 7 Adventures river runners busting through the first big rapid entering the Bowl and Pitcher Area. They're above the Riverside State Park suspension bridge with river flows around 16,000 cfs on March 13, 2016.
They came through wet, wild and unscathed.
Click to the next sequence of photos to see how one rafter in the second raft is ejected in the rapid, but keeps hold of his paddle and grabs the raft life line.
As I fired a burst of frames from my camera, another paddler leaned over, grabbed the swimmer by his pfd shoulder straps, leaned back to get the advantage of his body weight and quickly pulled to slide the swimmer into the raft.
They missed only a few strokes before heading into the next rapid.
A beautiful thing to watch.
