For those suggesting using an upstream angle to ferry yourself across: dream on. Michael Phelps in 50+ degree water, maybe. Average person, no. In serious water, you're either swimming hard for the nearest shore, or trying to survive obstacles. If you try to maintain an upstream ferry angle, all you accomplish is to slow your cross-river speed. Your few miles an hour of upstream velocity are negated by far by the speed of the water carrying you downstream. The loss of cross-river speed from trying to maintain a ferry angle means the force of the current pushing you back toward the center of the river will overwhelm you. You'll be swimming as hard as you can upstream, and all you're accomplishing is wearing yourself out. Ferrying works much better for boats than it does for swimmers.

For reasons only partially understood, I decided to briefly cruise the net for booms and swiftwater rescue. I found the use of inflated, nearly rigid fire-hose-type devices being hyped.

There were not a lot of written details but pictures and diagrams clearly showed lengths of inflated fire hose being fed straight out to victims in still water, and being fed upstream to drift down to victims in moving water, among others. One diagram even shows tethering the hose upstream to a tree and using what they call the pendulum effect and guide ropes on a mechanical truck boom over the water to let the current take the hose to a victim.

I did not find any river-crossing mentions, nor the idea of having a rescuer ride the end of the inflated fire hose as the current pendulumed it out.

Sounds a bit like a high-tech "pole" to me.

Hey Pete, do you feel that ferrying is effective for swimming in situations like this?

Would you disagree?

Swimming and Wading Techniques in
Swiftwater Rescue
Outline
4 of 5
2. Peel Outs
a) Swiftwater entry (See above)
b) Speed – for faster moving water you should have
more speed coming across the eddy line. But you may
be able to compensate some with your Swiftwater
entry.
c) Angle – Your angle exiting the eddy should be
pretty aggressive, at least 45 degrees, depending on
where you want to go. If you want to ferry across the
river you should have a greater angle than if you just
wanted to reenter the current to go downstream.
d) Position – As in boating you should try to exit the
eddy from the safest and highest spot to keep from
being pushed back into the eddy.
F. Ferrying in Moving Water
1. While not as useful as in a boat you can slow your
downstream progress
2. Angle should be approximately 45 degrees upstream angle to
the current.
3. Works most effectively in aggressive swimming facing
upstream, but you can use an aggressive backstroke.
VIII. Whitewater
A. Breathing Patterns
1. Turning your head to the side in waves may help
2. Time breathing in wave trains, so that you breathe after
going through a wave on the back side of it.
B. Special Considerations
1. Ledges
a) Pull knees up to your chest or “ball up”
b) Prevents foot entrapment
2. Holes / Hydraulics
a) Change shape of your body or ball up
b) Swim to one edge
c) Swim to bottom
d) Look for jet of water underwater
3. Strainers – Will discuss specifically in strainer drill.
C. Swiftwater