Two VLS Students Get Lucky
After 30-Second Canoe Trip

Riding the Waves Simone Orlandi of South Royalton, along with his friends, Mike McDonnell of Tunbridge and Scott VandeVusse of Lebanon (not pictured) took to the White River Sunday for some intense white water action. The trio reported that Sunday's waters were measured at 12,000 cubic feet per second nearby in Hartford. Last week, two Vermont Law School students, inexperienced in white water, had to be rescued from a small island just downstream. (Herald / Tim Calabro)

The White River in April may look like a lot of fun to play in when you’re as accomplished as the kayak artist in this photograph. Howerer, two law students at Vermont Law School discovered last week an unpleasant truth about Vermont rivers in springtime: They are terrifyingly dangerous up close.

It’s a truth which is well-known by most people who live near the White River and the other streams that meander through these valleys—but a truth that has to be learned first-hand every few years by newcomers.

That is apparently what happened last Thursday to two students, identified by the Valley News as Greg Berck and Ferrell Ryan. They were not experienced canoeists but decided nevertheless to put a canoe into the White River at the South Royalton bridge.

According to the VN report, it took the two young men just 30 seconds to realize they had made a terrible mistake. Fed by huge amounts of water from snow runoff, the White was tearing along at more than 10 miles an hour and awash with eddies and whitecaps.

It would have been difficult even for an experienced canoeist—which is why you haven’t seen any experienced canoeists in the White this spring.

In any case, after 30 seconds of terror, the pair decided to jump into the frigid waters, which could have been another, fatal, mistake. Luckily, instead of being swept to White River Junction, they were able to swim to a little island just downstream. There they were rescued by a water rescue team maintained by the Hartford Fire Department.

The canoe, as of the end of the day, had disappeared.

Boating authorities routinely remind Vermonters and visitors that all Vermont rivers are extremely dangerous at this time of year. The two law students are likely to second that emotion.