[Seahawk]

Moving water doesn't play fair.

I grew up surfing and kayaking. When I was a white water rafter, depending on the river, we would have a passenger get knocked over board at least once a day.

We spent a good deal of time before we set off explaining the best methods to safety get through the rapid once they were out of the raft: separate from the raft if the boatman tells you to - do not hold onto the side of the raft, feet down stream, lean back, etc. Some of the advice was absolutely counter intuitive but the correct thing to do.

On passenger/boat separation, 7 out of 10 would panic immediately, which is completely understandable. 4 of those 7 would listen and do the right things once I yelled at them. The other 3 were the ones that could get hurt.

I would guess panic once things go a little bit south in water the tourists are not accustomed to, then doing the wrong thing, is a big part of the problem.