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Adams County girl drowns when kayak flips in Yough Victim is 3rd killed this summer at deadly rapid Monday, September 18, 2000 By Lawrence Walsh, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
An Adams County teen drowned when an inflatable kayak she was paddling with a friend on an unguided trip on the Youghiogheny River overturned on a rapid that has been the site of two other drownings this summer.
Andrea L. Yealy of Littlestown, near Gettysburg, had previous whitewater experience on the Yough and was wearing a life jacket and helmet when the accident occurred at about 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Dimple Rock Rapid, about four miles downstream from Ohiopyle in Fayette County.
Her body was not recovered until yesterday morning.
Yealy's death was the second at that rapid in nine days and the third this summer at the site in Ohiopyle State Park.
It was windy, rainy and chilly on the river Saturday, with an air temperature of 60 and the water at 66 degrees, but Yealy was wearing a one-piece wet suit that covered her from her ankles to her neck.
Fayette County Coroner Dr. Phillip Reilly said an autopsy would be conducted today to confirm the cause of death. He said he would hold an inquest this fall "to review all the circumstances surrounding this tragedy.
"We have a big problem with Dimple Rock and people are very upset about it," he said. Reilly said he would consult with engineers to determine if Dimple Rock, a tank-sized chunk of Pottsville sandstone, should be "split in two or in fourths to make it less dangerous.
"Dimple Rock is one of the river's more challenging rapids and people have had a lot of fun and thrills there over the years. But there will come a point when people will feel the risk of drowning is too high a price to pay for the fun and thrills."
The victim's parents, David and Michelle Yealy, were in Ohiopyle yesterday when their daughter's body was found trapped under the left side of Dimple Rock about 10:30 a.m. The current had stripped off her life jacket. It had been recovered, still buckled, on Saturday, a short distance downstream.
The Army Corps of Engineers, which operates the dam at Confluence, reduced the water it releases into the river to help more than 100 searchers look for the girl's body. The search group included Ohiopyle State Park rangers, members of the Ohiopyle-Stewart Volunteer Fire Department, employees from Ohiopyle's four commercial rafting companies and volunteers. A search team that included specially trained dogs found her.
Yealy's parents, who drove back to Littlestown yesterday afternoon, declined comment during a brief conversation last night. Michelle Yealy said she wasn't aware there had been other drownings at Dimple Rock this summer.
Andrea Yealy and her paddling partner, a teen-age girl whose identity was not released, got on the river below Ohiopyle Falls about noon. They were accompanied by four others, including at least one adult. The others also were in two-person inflatable kayaks in which one paddler sits behind the other.
The victim, who was sitting behind her friend, used a double-bladed blue and yellow paddle to propel their gray self-bailing Star kayak down the river.
They paid $35 total to rent the 9-foot-long kayak, paddles and life jackets from Youghiogheny Outfitters, a rental company based in Ohiopyle. They also rented their wet suits there.
Yealy and her partner were seen paddling in perfect tandem as they made their way downstream. It isn't known if they overturned in any of the rapids before Dimple Rock.
Neither Yealy's partner nor anyone else in their party was injured.
Since the park opened in 1970, 18 people have drowned on the lower portion of the Yough, including Yealy.
Before Saturday's accident, the most recent fatality was Stewart W. Hill, 63, of Andover, Ohio, who fell out of his raft when it flipped at Dimple Rock on Sept. 7. On June 27, Willie Pate, 46, of Cleveland, Ohio, who also was paddling a two-person kayak, died when it capsized at Dimple Rock. He was caught against the rock and held there by the current even though he was wearing a life jacket.
Although most rapids are run straight on, Dimple Rock requires paddlers to run it at an angle to the right. The approach is crucial. Just upstream from Dimple Rock is a rock named Pinball, also known as Ricochet Rock. If paddlers bump against it on their approach, it usually causes them to flip at Dimple Rock.
Because of Dimple Rock's propensity to flip kayaks, rafts and canoes, commercial rafting companies post a guide on top of it and at least one guide with a rope on another rock below it to retrieve customers who fall in the river. Some customers fall in deliberately for the "fun of it," apparently unaware of the potential danger. The current usually flushes them to the right of Dimple Rock.
Each commercial rafting company pulls over groups to the left shore about 100 feet above Dimple Rock, reviews the proper way to run it and sends their rafts through one at a time.
Guides stop all other water craft, including those using rental or personal water craft, from running Dimple Rock Rapid until any customers who have fallen out have been retrieved.
Guides standing on Dimple Rock shout directions and encouragement to paddlers as they approach the intimidating rapid.
More than 100,000 paddlers, primarily rafters, run Dimple Rock Rapid every year on their 7.5 mile trip from Ohiopyle to Bruner Run. It's not known how many overturn at Dimple Rock, or any of the other 14 major rapids on what is known as the "Lower Yough."
Dan Bickel, assistant manager of Ohiopyle State Park, said the park encourages paddlers to run the river at least once with a commercial rafting company before attempting it on their own.
"We also have a safety video at the put-in for everyone to watch before they launch," he said.
Stuart Van Nosdeln, who owns and operates Youghiogheny Outfitters, said it was the first time a rental customer had drowned since he opened in 1974.
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