This American Red Cross film "The Uncalculated Risk" was designed to present viewers with the dangers of taking up water sports such as white-water rafting, canoeing or kayaking with little to no experience. It shows the threat of underwater obstacles, treacherous currents, icy water and flow through hazards while stressing the need for pre-experience training. The film opens with two young girls in life vests (:09) and a long line of vacationers carrying rafts and gear (:15). The title screen appears with a youth bobbing in the river water in a life vest (:32). The camera crew interviews participants on how dangerous they feel the sport is (:41), whether or not they wear life vests (:57) and if they had any experience with the sport prior to trying it (1:13). A pair flips over in a canoe (1:23) as the woman seeks stable ground to search for her male partner (1:30). Dramatic footage follows while she spots the man trapped and drowning under the current as other river runners rush to attempt to rescue him which they are unable to do (1:47). Slow motion footage follows to demonstrate what went wrong (2:30) as when the boat had capsized the man made the mistake of attempting to stand in the river’s rocky bed which lead to his foot getting caught and himself becoming trapped under the current (2:38). A close up shot of the rapids is shown to demonstrate how the river’s energy is constantly flowing under the surface (2:51). The film points to the necessity of being aware of what is ahead of the river bends (3:18). One man dictates how when the water moves over rocks it creates a depression in the surface of the water and enables a hole to form (3:36). Here is where many boats and rafts end up getting stuck (3:57). Rafts are much more dangerous to get stuck in these holes as when the rafters capsize and attempt to come up, they may get caught under the large raft preventing them from taking vital breaths of air (4:11). Dangers in dams and with artificial obstructions in rivers are pointed to (4:50). Footage follows of people trapped in a hole created by an artificial obstruction or dam as it is difficult to get out of (5:13). The woman from the boat details her experience getting trapped and being saved only by a floating tire which happened to be trapped in the hole as well (5:35). The boat had been smashed to pieces during this incident (5:47). Aerial shots of a river follows as the flow of the water varies greatly throughout the year (6:06). Timber is seen floating down stream presenting river runners with potential danger (6:10). Rocks are considered to be less dangerous than timber as the current creates a buffer between the rock and the boat (7:03) due to its solid shape which doesn’t allow flow through current. The dangers of cold water are addressed as two men recall an incident when the outside air temperature was 80 degrees while the water temperature was only 30 degrees (8:28). Two of the boaters whom had not been wearing life vests perished during this incident (8:59). While they had been the strongest swimmers of the trip, swimming strength meant nothing in the icy cold waters which rendered limbs useless (9:20). River runners are then seen gearing up with life vests and helmets (9:30) and tossing a throw rope into their boat for emergency use (9:40). A group of river runners stops and takes a look ahead at the river bend (10:19) to spot a log stuck across the river which they are then able to remove (10:31). An experienced instructor provides lessons showing kayakers how to flip upwards after being capsized (11:31). As the film begins to wrap up a note appears on the bottom of the screen for viewers to take advantage of instruction in white water skills provided by the American National Red Cross (13:38). The Coast Guard had assisted in production of this film (13:52). Want to support this channel and help us preserve old films? Visit https://www.patreon.com/PeriscopeFilm Visit our website www.PeriscopeFilm.com We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example: "01:00:12:00 -- President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference." This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
