The Yukon Canoe and Kayak Club (YCKC) held a Moving Water Safety Demonstration Monday.

It took place on the Yukon River behind Selkirk Elementary School in Whitehorse from 4:30 to 6 p.m.

Karen Zaiden, aquatics supervisor for the City of Whitehorse, represented the city.

Several members of YCKC participated in the event. One of them was Joti Overduin, a volunteer with the club for about two years.

“They (YCKC) partnered up with the city today,” explained Overduin.

“It’s Drowning Prevention Week, so with YCKC we promote white water paddling and I’ve helped out with youth nights and women and non-binary nights and tonight we’re doing swift water rescue demonstrations and information for the general public here. The Millennium Trail, a lot of folks often see people kayaking out here and often probably have questions and it’s just good to bring awareness to – I know we have trails really close to swift water and people may not always be aware of the dangers, or what to do.”

Overduin described what it was like out in the river.

“I’m dressed for it, so I’m OK. It’s a sunny day but if you weren’t wearing a drysuit with a bunch of wool underneath you’d be really cold and it’s super powerful. Like, you can see some rocks there that are only partially submerged, so it might give you the illusion that it’s not that deep or ‘maybe it’s ok for me to hop from this rock to that rock’ but I had to use a lot of strength not to get swept down. And if I had got swept down at that spot, I would have hit some other rocks. It could have caused some injuries. So it’s really powerful, easy to underestimate.”

Keri Rutherford , acting manager of recreation for the city, showed up with her son Sam Phillips, 9 and daughter Zoe Phillips, 7.

“I’m here to support and celebrate National Drowning Prevention Week. I think it’s really important. I work for the city as well and I’m here to support my team but also bringing water awareness to my kids. We live and play around water all the time and my family, anyways, spends a lot of time on the water, so the more awareness we can bring to it the better, so I think it’s awesome.”

Lawrence Brennan, executive director of YCKC, explained why they were there.

“We’re practicing some of the swift water rescue skills with the throw bags ... and we’re also kind of showing people while this place looks quite intimidating, it’s actually quite safe to swim if you wear the proper gear – helmet, PFD or lifejacket and appropriate insulating clothing. Today I’m wearing a drysuit. A couple of people are wearing wetsuits.

“We’re working with the city to try to educate people on water and safety.

“The main purpose is to show that it is safe to swim in and how to safely swim here and use the river.

Ben Feger and Gallagher D’Abramo also took part in the demonstration.

D’Abramo said they were “just practicing throw bags and rescues.”

Feger added “I think it was pretty fun. I think it was kind of cool to show that, this water may look intimidating, but like Lawrence was saying, once you have the right equipment and know how to do things appropriately, it can be really fun, honestly.”