Paddlers' disappearances provides hard lessons

[Glenn MacGrady]

"In both cases, the paddlers underestimated the risk of short, seemingly routine outings. They didn’t leave a float plan despite challenging conditions, and none of the three brought their cell phones with them for fear of getting them wet . . . "

"Barnard recommends a layered communications strategy incorporating both a cell phone and a handheld VHF radio. Every paddler should also carry a ditch bag with a few essential items for safety, survival and signalling. Barnard carries a personal locator beacon (PLB) capable of sending a distress signal and tracking his location to rescuers anywhere in the world."

Swept Away - Paddling Magazine

A kayaker’s disappearance provides hard lessons and hope for a better future.

paddlingmag.com

 

[JohnSand]

I'll read the article later. Before cell phones, even on heavily populated Long Island NY, I used to bring a very basic camp kit with me in small boats offseason. Also flares, signal mirror, compass, chem lights. It all fit in a plastic tool box.

 

[JohnSand]

Okay, I read the article. As a saltwater boater and USCG veteran, I can relate to it.
To some extent, we're always risking our lives out in small boats. There are things you can do to mitigate the risk, but it's always there. The article makes good points, though I think few will go so far as to carry a VHF and a PLB.
I made a rescue of a young woman blown away from the beach on a kayak. After a breezy day sail, I was getting ready to go into the harbor when I saw a flash of color farther out. It looked like a kayaker, paddling hard. My wife thought the same. While going to investigate, I considered that it might be some extreme athlete paddling around Long Island or similar. I kept going in case someone really needed help. We found a young woman who had paddled off the beach. When she got far enough out to feel the whole wind, she found she couldn't paddle against it. She headed west looking for a lee. It would have been many miles before she did. We took her aboard and her kayak in tow. This required me lifting her awkwardly and dumping her on deck, there's no easy way to get from a sit on top to the deck of a sailboat. She was calm, and thought she might get blown away to Connecticut. Three guys in a small boat did that same day. I thought she probably would have survived the trip if she didn't fall off exhausted, get run down in the dark by commercial shipping, or be dashed on a reef. No one knew she was out paddling, or even at the beach. Curiously, she had a cell phone in her pocket. I don't know if it even occurred to her to dial 911, or maybe she was embarrassed. My wife gave her the Mom Lecture on safety.

 

[MrPoling]

"But unlike David’s sit-inside kayak, Ochoa’s was a sit-on-top. It didn’t fill with water when it capsized, and Ochoa was able to scramble back aboard. "

A big problem with canoes is they are more difficult to self- rescue, especially in bad conditions. Sit inside kayaks without sealed compartments are also bad.

Big open water, especially the ocean, is much more dangerous than sheltered lakes and rivers. Unfortunately the knowledge and judgment it requires to paddle there safely is difficult to teach.

But it isn't difficult to practice self-rescue. And what you learn will go a long way for preparing you if something else goes wrong.

 

[DougK]

article was a bit horrifying for me, felt like my brother.. I'm 63, the coffee table in our first apartment was our first canoe, worked both to paddle and for entertaining. Used to run marathons, triathlons, etc.

I took a sit-in kayak out in Greece once to look at some dolphins with my kids. Greece, so no lifejackets around and I hadn't packed ours. On the way back in the following seas gradually filled the boat as I hadn't noticed the drain plug was out. We sank about a half mile from shore. My older boy could swim, grabbed onto the overturned boat laughing. Younger boy couldn't swim and basically just plummeted straight down into the 200ft of water.. dived, grabbed him, swam the whole mess back to shore. First I nearly died then my wife nearly killed me..

But, I would not go out in the salt anymore without filing a trip plan, obsessing over the weather, and taking someone with me.. just had nightmares my whole life about being lost in open water, not sure why..
my actual brother used to windsurf in powerful offshore winds. One day his mast broke and he was being blown out to Australia, a few thousand miles of ocean away, before getting rescued by a passing Hobie Cat. Maybe that's what gave me the nightmares.

 

[Tsuga8]

Oof scary stuff. I find open water deeply unsettling in paddlecraft. I've been on the Hudson River when wind and tide conspire against you and it's all you can do to stay in one place. The idea of being blown out to sea .... no thanks.