The radio reports stated that some of the dead were recovered from the tube feeding the turbines. How insane is it to canoe near a hydro-plant's inlet? I doubt a life-vest - or any flotation device, for that matter - would have helped. They were probably sucked under and held against the inlet screen, sad to say. It would have been sensible to open their spillways, to relieve the unfinished dam's pressure, rather than freewheel it through the turbine. Poor planning - operator error - in the canoe and at the dam - led to their loss.
I agree re flotation devices being required vs folks wearing vests. They never think it will happen to them. I nearly became a 'statistic' in my own sailboat many years ago. I leaned across the cockpit to get a glass of iced tea from my wife who was in the cabin. My 'tiller buddy' was off - and I brushed the tiller, changing our running attitude. The boom came across - and I found out why it is called a 'BOOM!' - it knocked me out, and I dropped into the cockpit floor. I could have gone over just as easily. I came to moments later, my friend's wife screaming her head off. I sat up, redirected the sails, and acted like nothing had happened - not so easy with blood running down the side of my head & face - and on the cockpit floor, along with the last of my iced tea! She continued wailing - never looked at my injury, odd, as she was an ER nurse - all about her and how'd she get to their car. They aren't together now. When I sailed alone on inland lakes, I wore a vest. In the marina, the greatest threats were the cottonmouths crossing the inlet there. I don't miss that sailboat - a real hole in the water into which much money went - and from who's deck several fine knives were errantly float tested.
Stainz
