FOMR member and experienced whitewater paddler, John Sills, writes the following response to our article Paddling Risks on Middle River from May’s FOMR newsletter. John has been reading American Whitewater’s incident summaries for years, paddles regularly with a friend who is a very safety conscious certified swift water rescue instructor, and has lots of experience on “both ends of a rope”. "In my opinion not enough emphasis is put on the greatest hazards (other than failure to wear PFD) which are strainers/sweepers and dams or similar structures, which could include natural ledges which create a hydraulic like a lowhead dam.
It's easy to underestimate and hard to overstate the dangers of wood in current. It will knock paddlers out of a boat, turn boats over, and trap boats, gear and swimmers. I myself have taken at least four wood-induced swims in recent years, pinned a boat once and lost a paddle twice, last time for good…I have seen it happen to other experienced whitewater paddlers often enough to know how easy it is to miscalculate and get in real trouble. I'd guess that the second most dangerous condition in the case of Middle River is high water. It can be very tempting particularly after a dry spell, but requires a different skill set than low/moderate flows. It’s much harder to control a boat, things happen fast and recovery can be much more difficult. Not wearing a PFD doesn’t cause river accidents, but may play a big role in the outcome. At the very least, it is a marker for inexperience and lack of preparation which are major factors in causing accidents and the severity of their outcomes." | 
