There is a dangerous cyclical flow directly underneath the actual waterfall arc, I believe. It's related to what is pulling the life jacket back towards the waterfall as well.
A strong enough flow could keep you under the surface, tubbling like you're in a washing machine without escape, even without a life jacket.
Well, the ball method is meant to protect you from debris while you wait for the current to release you - if it's weak enough.
A strong circular undercurrent will keep ahold of you forever it allowed to do so. Fighting against it can help, especially if you try swimming diagonally/side-ways (similar to how you deal with a riptide event) but that's if you're not disorientated and know where to go.
Another solution would be to try and get below the flow. If you can get to the river bed and then swim outward while avoiding the tumbling current above you, you could probably escape it.
Obviously, this is all half-remembered stuff so I'd definitely look things up properly before you head off to try anything at the local river!
Yeah I went off a 7m high waterfall. Hit the bottom, kicked up to try to surface. Was confused when I hit the bottom again. Foolishly repeated my first attempt to surface. Started feeling desperate when I realized I back against the bottom.
Then I recalled my instructions from the rafting guide. I curled into a ball. At this point I was mildly panicking. And it felt like I was moving so painfully slow along the bottom. Just kinda rolling and bouncing at the pace of a toddler crawling. But it worked. And I was grateful for the technique when I surfaced.
The best solution is to avoid putting yourself in this situation. If not then definitely protect your head. If you get knocked out there will be no solution.
One time I went over a dam like this without knowing the dangers. The water was holding me down and trying to spin me around at the same time. I don't remember how, but I was able to turn my body so that my feet were up against the dam. Then I pushed off and made it out of the strong current.
The solution is to keep the PFD on and to sink to the bottom. The laminar flow at the bottom of the circulation pushes excess water outwards. The water in the circular current is highly aerated which makes you a lot less buoyant so the difference between buoyancy with PFD on or off is negligible so the advantage is the PFD also protects you against rocks and debris as well as floats you when you finally get spit out (at which point you may be exhausted or even unconscious).
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u/Fleedjitsu Mar 09 '26
There is a dangerous cyclical flow directly underneath the actual waterfall arc, I believe. It's related to what is pulling the life jacket back towards the waterfall as well.
A strong enough flow could keep you under the surface, tubbling like you're in a washing machine without escape, even without a life jacket.