No, from everyone else's comments, I suppose that it wasn't what anyone
other than me would call "near death". But for me, it was close enough.

As for Chuck giving his guests what they wanted, there were only two guests,
me and my friend. And then was, of course, Charlene - who did, yes, sit on
the same side as Chuck. So we actually had three on one side (the left
side), and me, and only me, on the right side.

You are insightful - because our swimming was shortly after lunch. But it
wouldn't have done any good to have eaten earlier or later - as we started
our with a Class V, and ended with a Class V. They were all pretty much
evenly spaced out.

When I was supposed to be paddling, the last thing that I would have been
doing was looking back. No, I looked back at other times. And I don't really
think that he was standing when we all went swimming. But my friend seems to
think that he actually did it for fun......

The Lower Gauley has LOTS of huge, undercut rocks - and lots of seives. As
far as I am concerned, there is NO good place to "go swimming".

And, no, I didn't tip him!

I really appreciated your comments, Bill - as well as those of everyone
else - as they have given me a clearer understanding of what I was getting
in to. It is my own fault for not finding out all of this stuff BEFORE I
went - EXPECIALLY the raft configuration of the trip. A small boat, on Class
V waves, with four people - three on the left, and me on the right - I
believe is what did it. If we had been in a larger boat with more people, I
don't believe that it would have happened.

Thanks again for taking the time to comment - I really do appreciate it!