"Water rescue is a huge field. It includes swiftwater, lake rescue and much more. A very common mistake is to think that because you are expert in one of these areas that you are expert in them all. Swiftwater rescue, however, is a unique field, very unlike other water rescue specialty areas. What is swiftwater? The answer seems deceptively simple: water moving downhill. Yet, when water begins to move, it makes its own rules. The learning curve in swiftwater is steep and abrupt, and often there is no chance to retake the test. Many would-be rescuers have paid for this ignorance with their lives." Swiftwater Rescue by Slim Ray