'The river grabbed me and pulled me under': Edmonton paddle boarder shares near-death experience
Lindsay Cholod ventured out onto the North Saskatchewan River last weekend for her first paddle of the season but it was almost her last.
"There were no signs of any danger," she said. "Seemed like a normal day on the river."
She set out from Fort Edmonton on Saturday but when she reached the corner to Dawson Park, Cholod said the river quickly changed.
"It got faster, there was more debris in the river," she said.
As she got closer to a dock she noticed it was damaged by the river’s current and was partially submerged.
"I hit the dock, the river grabbed me and pulled me under," said Cholod. "It took me under and dragged me in the undercurrent all the way down."
Dock on North Saskatchewan River
Cholod said she frantically tried to get her head above water.
"I couldn’t because the dock was on top of me. Once I passed the dock then all the boats were on top of me and the last two breaths I took were full of water and it was on that second breath of water where I was like, 'omg I’m not going to make it out of this," she said.
Somehow she managed to get herself out of the situation.
"You’re able to swim, I don’t know how. I had no air in my lungs, I had no energy, but your body just powers through."
BE WATER SAFE
"You have to ask yourself, can you self-rescue?" said Bruce McWhinnie, Chief of Special Operations with Edmonton Fire Rescue Services.
"By self-rescue I mean if there happened to be an incident where you separated from the device that you’re on, do you have the ability to get back on it or get back to shore? If you can’t self-rescue, my recommendation is that you stay off the swift water environment."
So far this year EFRS has responded to 42 water rescues. There were 138 last summer including animal rescues, up from 104 during the summer of 2020.
"Last summer City Park Rangers and the Edmonton Police Marine Unit performed more than 5,500 safety compliance checks," said Zain Haji, a City of Edmonton Park Ranger.
He added that nearly half of the boaters checked were not in compliance with boating regulations.
Boaters are required to have, at minimum, a personal floatation device or life jacket for each person on board, a throw bag, whistle or sound signaling device and a watertight flashlight when traveling in low light conditions.
"This applies to all boaters including those using inflatables such as dinghies, air mattresses, floating islands and tubes," said Haji.
Constable Derek Jones with the Edmonton Police Marine Unit urges water users to wear a life jacket, especially paddle boarders.
"If it’s not on and it’s with your paddle board and you get separated from your paddle board you might be swimming after it and you might not get your paddle board and find yourself in a situation you don’t want to be in," he said.
"Wearing that life jacket will keep you afloat in the calm water up top because with a moving body of water like this there’s some turbulence underneath that you’re not seeing. So it looks calm right now and flat but underneath there’s water in motion and rocks and changing elevations underneath that we don’t see," said Jones.
Cholod is an experienced paddle boarder and admits she was overconfident that day on the water.
"And when you’re too confident you become complacent," she said.
"I’m just very, very lucky. I’m super grateful that I’m still here able to talk about it."
She also wants to connect with two women she encountered on shore after her near-drowning.
Cholod doesn’t remember who they were but said they drove her home and made sure she was okay.
With files from CTV News Edmonton's Joe Scarpelli
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.