A group of four kayakers two pairs of people each in a two-person boat headed downstream from a boathouse run by Ground Up Adventures, an outdoorsy nonprofit, near the Sorlie Bridge. That took them toward the Riverside Dam, and one of the kayaks overturned as they tried to avoid going over the dam.

A bystander called 911 and sheriffs deputies in a boat came to help. Nearby, another group of three kayakers one person in a single kayak and two in a two-person craft noticed the deputies boat and asked for help, too. Grand Forks police officers drove the four-person group back to the launch, and deputies took the three-person group back on their boat.

All seven people were wearing life jackets, according to Sgt. Thomas Inocencio, who heads the sheriffs departments water operations team.

I think that was probably a largely contributing factor that prevented anybody from getting injured, Inocencio said.

Sheriffs deputies are called to the Red River 20 to 30 times each year, and about two or three of those calls are to help people in similar straits, Inocencio said.

He said neither group was particularly familiar with the river, and both said they didnt know the dam was there. Inocencio also chalked the incident up to a strong current. He said he wasnt sure if fatigue was a factor.

The river is reportedly flowing at least marginally faster and stronger than normal. Inocencio said the Reds current is significantly stronger than usual, but Jim Grijalva, who chairs Ground Up Adventures board of directors, said it was only a bit stronger.

Deputies were called at 5:25 p.m. Sunday. The river was about 20.07 feet high and flowing at a rate of 8,790 cubic feet per second 10 minutes before then, according to U.S. Geological Survey data. Staff at the National Weather Services Grand Forks office also said those figures were higher than normal, but didnt pin a specific normal figure. Survey data indicates that, since June of 2019, the river has always flowed faster than the 75th percentile of previously recorded rates.

Its hard to say what normal is, Grijalva told the Herald. The river is still safe, but, like always, you have to wear your life jacket and be cognizant of where you are in the river.

Staff at the boathouse encourage people who rent kayaks to paddle upstream at first, toward Lincoln Park, and then head back with the current to reach the launch and return their kayak. Its easier, the thinking goes, to go downstream on the back end of a trip than it is to go upstream, when fatigue would be an increasingly important factor.

If you get tired, its easy to turn around and float back to the boathouse, Grijalva explained.

Boathouse staff usually tell renters that the return trip downstream takes about half the time as the paddle upstream.

The kayakers on Sunday went downstream first, Grijalva said. They were paddling sit on top-style kayaks, which are different from sit in ones that can be rolled rightside up by an experienced user.

Theres this kind of myth that goes around the community that the Red River has these mysterious undertow currents, that if you get in the water it could pull you under, and its a complete myth, Grijalva said, stressing that no renters have been injured and the rescues on Sunday were the first incidents of their kind.

He said that 99.9% of the time its fun and everybody has a good time.

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Kayakers overturned trying to avoid Grand Forks dam - Grand Forks Herald