Jerry, that was L. Jerstadt Adventures that I guided whitewater trips for during the summers. But the toughest trips were with buddies doing crazy stuff during spring runoffs way up high on tough rivers. Young and a bit foolish; and a bit lucky. Here is one thing I heard about surviving heavy hydraulic spills that I won't take any responsibility for repeating - take this with your own proper skepticism ....

.... A top kayaker once told me that if a guy gets flipped out into a hard core reversal hydraulic trough and can't hold onto a boat, that yes, sometimes a lifejacket can keep you trapped there, or spinning just under it, longer than you can survive it. But I will take my chances wearing one for class 5 water. It would be a good idea to ditch fishing boots too. What he told us is that if you get stuck in a reversal and can't paddle and kick your way out to the side of it, and you keep getting sucked under and popped right back into the trough, struggle to get your lifejacket off, and with a big breath to hold, try to swim down into the trough of the 2 opposing currents as hard as you can for the bottom of the river where you can then swim under the reversal and pop up out below it. I hope to never have to try that out!!!