Creature carnage

Although there has yet to be a sighting on the town run, footage of the “un-flippable” Creature Craft has been showing up on newsfeeds and Facebook posts around town all summer.

Invented by Darren Vancil, of Grand Junction, after a double-shoulder-blowing trip through Gore Canyon, the patented rafts use a roll-cage to help right themselves in even the most puckering of whitewater situations. Even if they do resemble a bouncy house. In addition, rafters are strapped into the craft in the event of a capsize. As can be imagined, the arrival of the Creature was met with its share of controversy. While rescuers herald it for its safety features, crusty diehards called it “cheating” and blasted the retention straps, a cardinal sin in the whitewater world. And yes, while they may take the master boat-manship and finesse out of Class V river-running, to be fair they do require passengers to “roll” them much like a kayak.
To demonstrate what the crafts are capable of, Vancil has embarked on a virtual whitewater tour of the world, dropping everything from a 50-footer on McCloud River Falls in California to the 60,000 cfs Rio Baker in Chile (which one oarsman likened to “landing in a huge pile of pillows.”)

However, it seems this May Vancil, who hand builds all the rafts himself, recognized his “unvancil-ability.” On May 21, he landed in the hospital after attempting to run the 100-foot Class VI Sunset Falls on Washington’s Skykomish.

According to a report on GearJunkie.com, Vancil and his partner hit an “exceptionally violent” crease halfway down the falls. Buckled into his seat, Vancil thrashed forward and his oar was ripped from his hand, knocking him unconscious.

Somewhat miraculously, the raft made it through upright, but Vancil was not so lucky. He ragdolled unconscious through the remainder of the rapid, suffering a fractured pelvis and sacrum.

Nevertheless, Vancil remained unfazed, if not a bit philosophical, from his hospital bed, where he re-lived the trashing (complete with video re-play.) “This is the game you play,” he said, adding that his group ran 13 boats through the falls, which previously had only seen seven descents (two of which were done in Creatures.) “Sometimes things happen. At Class VI, you’re at the edge of what is possible.”

He did credit the oft-bashed retention system for saving his life and keeping him in the boat. “The Creature Craft system absolutely worked,” he said. “Everything happens for a reason, and we will learn from this.”

As for Vancil’s lessons learned, he said in addition to modifying the raft’s retention system, next time he would wear a full facemask.

No word on whether he had to drink from his booty after the incident.