I just had a conversation with my buddy that sent chills up my spine. They were riding middle river on the Delta and had a beginner rider fall near this pumping station:
https://maps.google.com/maps/place?f...KoqJiALu14C4Cg
As he was idling back to pick her up he noticed she was moving sideways through the river toward the pumping station not down stream. Luckily he has lots of river rafting experience and immediately understood what was happening. She was close to the protection barrels by the time he made back to her. He tossed her the rope, she grabbed it just as the current pulled her under water and under the barrel line. While struggling she managed to get tangled in the rope and was stuck under the barrel with a tight line in the water as the she was getting sucked toward the pumps. It took them 10-15 seconds to loosen up the rope by backing-up the boat then she popped up on the other side of the barrel line. Two guys jumped in and pushed her over to the boat while holding on to the line (the boat was now against the barrels). The guys without a wakeboard strapped to their feet were able to swim out of the current and back to the boat.
A very frazzled boat crew made it away without anybody getting hurt. Had my buddy not been a veteran boater with 20+ years of boating experience the outcome could have been significantly different. He is still shaken.
STAY AWAY FROM THOSE PUMPING STATIONS!
There are two on Middle River and another on Victoria.
Threaded Mode