Our family just got back from the beautiful state of Colorado so my wife could walk across the stage and pick up her Bachelor Degree in Accounting from Colorado Technical Institute. We enjoyed downtown Denver, Mt. Evans, Garden of the Gods, and some great whitewater rafting which was a little scarier than I thought especially for my wife and 14 year old daughter, since there had been so much rain and snow this year. I noticed our guide was missing his rescue knife from the sheath attached to his vest, and he said he has lost 8 or 9 knives when he is in the river getting tossed around. I suggested he get a lanyard on his knife but he didn't want one because he knows other guides that have been cut by their own knife when it comes out in the water and starts thrashing around in the fast and strong current. Apparently its pretty common for rafts to flip over in the white water and people get caught in the ropes and rigging, or their life jacket straps get tangled in tree limbs sticking out of the water. So, I was wondering if anyone knows of a really secure rescue knife or blunt tip dive knife that is still quick to access, that I might suggest to him?
Whitewater rafting knife?
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gordon21
Member
Two choices come to mind.
#1 A ballistic nylon single magazine pouch with a traditional folding lockback pocket knife in it. It would have a foldover Velcro flap. Probably hundreds available for under $10 Put virtually any knife in it from $10-200. Waterproof and virtually indestructible.
http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/gunclip-depot_2271_103056980
#2 Buy a Kydex/knife combo made for each other. these will normally be a fixed blade. If designed right, the Kydex will securely grip the knife handle, finger guard etc. a quick look on the net now showed some custom sets for $60 from SOG.
#1 A ballistic nylon single magazine pouch with a traditional folding lockback pocket knife in it. It would have a foldover Velcro flap. Probably hundreds available for under $10 Put virtually any knife in it from $10-200. Waterproof and virtually indestructible.
http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/gunclip-depot_2271_103056980
#2 Buy a Kydex/knife combo made for each other. these will normally be a fixed blade. If designed right, the Kydex will securely grip the knife handle, finger guard etc. a quick look on the net now showed some custom sets for $60 from SOG.
Smith357
US Veteran
Camillus Parachute Knife
Tusa FK11 Mini Dive Knife with Blunt Tip at Divers Direct
Go to a dive shop and get yourself a good dive knife. The sheaths can strap to your arm or leg, and the have a positive retention system to keep the kife in the sheath under water.
Go to a dive shop and get yourself a good dive knife. The sheaths can strap to your arm or leg, and the have a positive retention system to keep the kife in the sheath under water.
THE PILGRIM
Member
The one that you don't want to carry, obviously is the regular leather sheath hunting knife.
The knives with the locking hard sheaths are all good choices.
The one hand opener pocketknives like the Onion design are also a good choice.
Never cared that much for the old orange handle switchblade. I carried it for years with the shroud cutter blade out. But it's not a very good knife. The blade is more like a piece of chrome trim than a knife blade. They are good collector blades, and I have several.
The knives with the locking hard sheaths are all good choices.
The one hand opener pocketknives like the Onion design are also a good choice.
Never cared that much for the old orange handle switchblade. I carried it for years with the shroud cutter blade out. But it's not a very good knife. The blade is more like a piece of chrome trim than a knife blade. They are good collector blades, and I have several.
lawandorder
Member
Benchmade, fixed blade white water knife is the one I bought for my wife. Seems pretty secure in a locking, hard plastic sheath.
I have an old Gerber "River Shorty" model no. 05640 double edge serrated blunt point knife, that I keep attached to my PFD. It has a hard plastic locking knife sheath that easily attaches to anything; I'm not sure if they still make them anymore.
Cooter Brown
Member
I used to do a LOT of whitewater boating at a fairly high level. I paddled a C1, which is a decked canoe (looks like a kayak and is what they paddle in whitewater slalom in the Olympics--google Jon Lugbill).
A lot of raft guides carry knives, generally mounted on their life jackets upside down--the old Tekna knives were fairly popular. Gerber makes one. The general consensus among hardcore whitewater boaters was that this was more to impress the ladies than anything else.
No serious, high level whitewater boater I know carries a fixed blade knife, not a single one. The only ones who do are some of the guides who aren't serious hard boaters (kayaks and canoes) and novices. It's just not a good environment for a fixed blade. The guide in the OP is a case in point--somewhere, on the bottom of some river, are 8 or 9 knives waiting to stick somebody. Not to mention the potential for something happening when the things popped loose in the first place, even if they are not on a lanyard. There are cases of people getting hurt pretty badly when a fixed blade knife comes out of the sheath. American Whitewater compiles these things.
The boaters I know that carry knives carry something like I did--a Spyderco with a serrated blade. Mine secured very well in a small pocket on my life jacket. I never lost it in thousands of trips from Georgia to Pennsylvania and I never had to use it, nor have I known anyone who had to use one in an emergency situation to cut themselves or someone else free. And I paddled some dangerous rivers over a 15 year period. The only time I used it was when I broke a strap buckle on my squirt boat in the middle of Lost Paddle on the Upper Gauley. I used it to cut some old rigging off a buddy's boat to get another buckle.
Full disclosure: I still have the Tekna I carried on my vest for the first season until I wised up and started hanging around more experienced paddlers.
The fact is that tangling in lines is rare. Lines should be very well secured. If not the guide needs to learn more about rigging and less about knives.
I carried a knife because I like to have a knife and unlike a kayak in a C1 you are strapped in and though you can punch out easily enough it gave me peace of mind.
Most drownings out west are flush drownings (washing down a long rapid). Getting stuffed under a rock or tangled in a strainer (usually a tree) are the usual things in the east but happen out west too. I'm not sure I recall any drownings compiled in the yearly list caused by getting tangled in lines.
Should a raft guide have a knife? Sure, you never know when you might need a knife. But I feel strongly that the knife should be a one hand opening folder. Spyderco makes a blunt nose serrated knife that is perfect for the purpose. Figuring out a way to secure it should be easy. I had a short lanyard on mine and like I said it went in a pocket on the vest.
Sorry for the long post--this is a bit of a pet peeve with me.
A lot of raft guides carry knives, generally mounted on their life jackets upside down--the old Tekna knives were fairly popular. Gerber makes one. The general consensus among hardcore whitewater boaters was that this was more to impress the ladies than anything else.
No serious, high level whitewater boater I know carries a fixed blade knife, not a single one. The only ones who do are some of the guides who aren't serious hard boaters (kayaks and canoes) and novices. It's just not a good environment for a fixed blade. The guide in the OP is a case in point--somewhere, on the bottom of some river, are 8 or 9 knives waiting to stick somebody. Not to mention the potential for something happening when the things popped loose in the first place, even if they are not on a lanyard. There are cases of people getting hurt pretty badly when a fixed blade knife comes out of the sheath. American Whitewater compiles these things.
The boaters I know that carry knives carry something like I did--a Spyderco with a serrated blade. Mine secured very well in a small pocket on my life jacket. I never lost it in thousands of trips from Georgia to Pennsylvania and I never had to use it, nor have I known anyone who had to use one in an emergency situation to cut themselves or someone else free. And I paddled some dangerous rivers over a 15 year period. The only time I used it was when I broke a strap buckle on my squirt boat in the middle of Lost Paddle on the Upper Gauley. I used it to cut some old rigging off a buddy's boat to get another buckle.
Full disclosure: I still have the Tekna I carried on my vest for the first season until I wised up and started hanging around more experienced paddlers.
The fact is that tangling in lines is rare. Lines should be very well secured. If not the guide needs to learn more about rigging and less about knives.
I carried a knife because I like to have a knife and unlike a kayak in a C1 you are strapped in and though you can punch out easily enough it gave me peace of mind.
Most drownings out west are flush drownings (washing down a long rapid). Getting stuffed under a rock or tangled in a strainer (usually a tree) are the usual things in the east but happen out west too. I'm not sure I recall any drownings compiled in the yearly list caused by getting tangled in lines.
Should a raft guide have a knife? Sure, you never know when you might need a knife. But I feel strongly that the knife should be a one hand opening folder. Spyderco makes a blunt nose serrated knife that is perfect for the purpose. Figuring out a way to secure it should be easy. I had a short lanyard on mine and like I said it went in a pocket on the vest.
Sorry for the long post--this is a bit of a pet peeve with me.
Rintimtin
Member
Im sure you can get custom kydex for almost any knife out there. I think a spyderco with a blunt tip and a 50/50 or full serrated blade would do the trick. Getting a nice kydex sheath to mount on your vest or your person would probally hold it rather well. Or you can get a nylon sheath or just use the clip and a lanyard. But I would much rather have Wolverine claws then you wouldnt need a knife
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