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February 9, 2022

Regarding the death of my friend Carin Buford

I was not on this trip, but was invited. I have spoken to several people who were there. Carin had on a life vest and all other appropriate gear including a drysuit. She was with a strong group of paddlers, on a reasonable water level, in good weather. Her kayak roll abilities were exemplary and the difficulty level of this run was well in her abilities. Her boat was pinned in rocks, upside down in the water, in a freak accident.

As whitewater paddlers we do many things to make our sport as safe as possible. We assess the proper boat choice, gear choice, river difficulty, river level, the strength of the group, the weather forecast, etc. We continually work on our skills, including boat control, river rescue, CPR. Even so, there is inherent risk in our sport as rivers are very dynamic environments. I can think of nothing that could have been done differently or better in this circumstance.

https://www.al.com/news/birmingham/2022/02/birmingham-attorney-drowns-in-kayaking-accident-at-desoto-state-park.html?fbclid=IwAR3Bzcw5HJhdOPHSPvzk0hTXb0H4pOyXdlZ-JQ2W6EyzqBGSWXXg35tDniw

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