Rafting misadventure in the Czech Republic

I'm currently still in the Twin cities with three of my former players getting ready for our last day at the Glazier Football Clinics. It has been a lot of fun getting to spend some time with these guys. Dusty Hess played QB for me for two years and was on our coaching staff this season as the quarterbacks coach. He is recruiting and preparing for next season. Caleb Bialik also came along for the trip. Caleb played his last season of football for us this last season. He graduated in December and is currently preparing to go to Texas in March for training camp with the El Paso Generals of the Arena Football League. Caleb is 6'5" 275 pounds. Nathan Foster also joined us for the clinic. Nathan has been a 3 year starter for us on the Oline and he is about 6'7" 290 pounds. Nathan has one year left to play in college and then wants to try and continue his playing career overseas. He will be getting married in May. Thanks for joining me this weekend guys. I will forever be grateful for all the effort these young men gave to our football program as well as the great memories.
Thought I would close out my post with another one of my rafting mishaps. I was in the Czech Republic about 4 years ago with my wife and two of our children. Kamryn was 5 years old and Kodie was 3 at the time of our visit. We were traveling with some friends and stopped to spend some time in a town called Cesky Krumlov. We were sitting in a riverside cafe in the center of town and I noticed that people were going down the river in canoes and kayaks. The water was very calm and I noticed some families in small rafts paddling down the river. I suggested to our friends Darryl and Alex that we should go rent some equipment and float down the river. A few hours later, we found a rental shop and went in for some information. Nobody in the shop spoke very good English, but they gave us a small map and tried to explain the route for us to take. We paid for the rental and then my family and Alex decided to go along. Darryl decided to walk around and check out some more of this beautiful city. We walked down the hill to the river, put on our lifevests, and climbed into the boat. The raft was obviously very old, but there didn't seem to be any structural problems. There really weren't any instructions from the staff, but none of us were concerned because it was a simple float trip with no apparent hazards. We pushed off and started gently gliding down the river. After about 2 minutes of paddling, the current picked up considerably. As we set to round a bend in the river, I heard a loud gushing sound. As I looked more closely, I could see that we were heading directly for a drop off. I could only guess that the sound I was hearing was the sound of a waterfall. At this instant, we also realized that people on the opposite bank of the river were screaming at us to get to the far left, so we could enter into a chute that would propel us through some rapids. I saw and heard these people at the same time, but the water was moving too fast for us to get over there. We were advancing down the far right side of the river very fast now, and I knew we were heading for some real danger. Going over those falls was almost surely going to flip the raft over and empty all of us into the river. I noticed a concrete barrier up ahead to our left, but the odds of reaching it looked very slim. It was within 10 feet of the falls, so I knew it was our only chance. The barrier was probably four feet long and less than two feet wide, but it might give us a chance. The kids didn't understand the severity of the situation, and I yelled at the ladies to dig their paddles into the water and paddle hard for the barrier. We had just a few seconds to get there, and we somehow managed to get within a few feet of our target. I lunged out of the raft and extended my arms to reach for the safety of the barrier. I gripped it as tight as I could as the raft dangled within a few feet of the drop. One by one the ladies and kids climbed out as I clung to the barrier. We had avoided the falls, but now we were stuck on a tiny concrete barrier in the middle of the river. We sat there for probably 15-20 minutes unsure of how to get out of
this mess. One guy swam downstream to help us, but the currents were too strong for him to do anything. The only thing I could think of was to drag the raft to the other side of the barrier, which was away from the falls and then try to climb back in and head for the shore. We got everybody loaded in and then I pushed off from the barrier into the churning rapids. We navigated through a few rapids and began to paddle for shore. The water became calm again and we reached the left side of the river in less than 30 seconds. Finally, the whole ordeal was over and everybody was safe. It took about 30 minutes for me to locate a staff member from the rafting company to express my displeasure with what happened. The man I found didn't seem particularly concerned about the incident. He pointed out that this waterfall hazard was on the map we were given. The map was about the size of a credit card and the writing was in fine print and unclear. There was no mention of any hazards from the desk attendant or the guy who gave us our paddles and lifevests. They saw we had small children with us and yet nothing was communicated to our group. I felt really bad for putting my family and friend in this situation too. I had trouble sleeping for several nights after the incident, and I am just thankful that we made it to safety. If we had started paddling 1-2 seconds later, we would have surely gone over the falls. Don't think I'll be rafting in this part of Europe again anytime soon!
Lights out.