My friend Ray and I both built cedar-strip canoes in high school. He built a standard 16 ft, and I modified the forms to create a custom 12.5 ft version (to fit in the back of my truck at the time). We took them to the river every spring break. If the water level was just right, it would get pretty rough around the corner directly above our campsite. It drops about 10 ft down in about 30 ft of distance and around a corner also, so not a straight drop, but has some nasty ripples and cross-currents. There are a couple large rocks about 10ft around that create a couple 4 foot ripples throughout the fall. This spot also narrows a 40 ft wide river down to a 10ft shoot of water. Ray and I go down solo in our own canoes (his will hold 4 people easy, mine is squirrelly with 2). We had a great time and never rolled over by ourselves. Each time we hit the ripple, we have a couple inches of water in the bottom. 2 Other people want to ride along, so my friend decides to try it. Ray's sister (moderately experienced) and my friend Eric, a big guy with no experience. Ray sits in back to steer, sister in the middle, and Eric up front for balance. He tells them, "no matter what, just keep paddling straight ahead!" They start off well above the fall to make sure they line up good. At the first ripple, they take on about a foot of water. My friend steps out of the back onto a ledge of rock immediately, she's sinking fast. His sister looks back, cusses, and bails out the side and swims PAST the front of the canoe, still going down the fall. It hits the ripple, front of boat goes about 5 feet in the air, comes crashing down on the rock with only Eric in front, nonetheless. The seat breaks, he's now sitting on the floor, still paddling to beat hell. Gets around the rock, boat is completely under water, he's still paddling. Turns around and notices he's the only one left. Ray is standing on rock laughing his arse off, sister is climbing other side of bank, and he's sitting in the busted sunken boat. The water shallows to about 2 feet and he steps out the front, tries to stop the canoe by turning it SIDEWAYS, completely full of water and moving fast and stands in front of it. Cracks the side of the boat since it now weighs 1,000+ lbs, damn near breaks both of his legs, and is bleeding everywhere. He hasn't gone canoeing with us since, and still has the scars to remind him why! 
