out there
Published March 2, 2009 | 
Bonded in terror or suspicion deep
Tentative tiptoe or giant leap
Call down the angels to guide them in
A raft of penguins take to the wing.
- ian anderson
Ok so some kayakers are simply “out there”. Especially Shaun Baker who is considering plunging over Niagara Falls in his jet kayak. But at least Shaun is sort of an experienced and educated kind of out there. Unlike the list of names that seems to be growing every day of paddlers who are meeting their fates on the water making the most basic mistakes. I know they are not intentionally “out there” while at the same time they actually are out there…intentionally. I’m not sure exactly how or if we can ever reach these folks but it’s becoming obvious a lot of paddlers are missing their kayak safety classes.
Now there are a few different views on how prepared a kayaker should be. Some guys are just crazy about safety training and gear. My experience has been though that the most extreme safety gear oriented people don’t actually paddle much. On the other end of the spectrum is this ever growing group of weekend warriors that think little of safety but are out fishing and paddling more than most “sea” kayakers. Somewhere in the middle you’ll find most paddlers. We paddle, we’re aware of the risks, and we train and carry what we need to be relatively safe on (and in) the water. While it’s not realistic that most of us spend thousands on safety gear we do carry what we need for the type of paddling we do.
While there are those occasional “sea” kayakers who bite off more than they should chew, the facts are that most of the kayakers that are getting into trouble these days are recreational boaters. I think often they are using kayaking as a means to an end. The kayak is often simply transportation. I’m not sure how we get a message to them. I mean, if your boat is simply a way to get out to a good fishing spot why would you go to a paddling website or sea kayaking magazine? Why would you spend money on a class?
Today let’s have a little thought experiment. You never know who might read it. Here’s the scenario. . .
Keep in mind, I’m not talking about expeditions. Simply spending a day out fishing on the coast or even the local lake… Image a guy in his mid to late 40s out fishing in his new kayak. Maybe it’s a SOT or simply a large open top without a skirt. (No rolling) He reaches over for something and falls out. He kicks the boat away as is often the case. The paddle is attached to the boat that’s floating away and he’s left with a fishing rod in his hands. The water is in the mid 40s F. He’s almost a mile off shore, a weak swimmer and not in the best of shape. Now what?
This is a situation that is not all that hard to imagine these days. How could our poor guy have been best prepared for this situation without having taken a class? What gear should he have on him? What should he have been wearing? What should he do next? Feel free to give me some thoughts in the comments.
If you’re not an experienced kayaker, just imagine the situation above. It’s not one you want to be in. Really.
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Posted in Learning, Paddling, Safety | 
kayak fishing, recreational kayaking, recreational paddling, Safety8 Responses to out there
The dude is screwed. He needs to drop the fishing pole and try to get to his kayak.
Hopefully, he’s wearing a drysuit or a wetsuit. It’d be nice if he had a VHF radio to call mayday from. If he has a lifevest on, at least, they’ll find his body.
I hear Darwin mumbling something in the background…
Having life insurance would’ve prepared his family to deal with his capsize.
I suppose a couple of wings would be very handy – he probably has a prayer stashed away somewhre
I see this all the time, especially in spring. The air is warm, the sun is shining, and all kinds of people head out in their rec kayaks, pelicans, and whatnot, just paddle in hand. Many don’t even have a PFD. The water is still ice-cold. If they stay close to the shore, they will probably be ok (assuming cold shock doesn’t get them), but the ones further out will be in trouble if they flip. I’m actually surprised that we don’t have more fatalities each year. Oh, and you can’t tell them anything – they look at you like you’ve sprouted two heads and are disgorging chopped seaweed when you speak. Sigh.
Everybody is different, but there are accurate stereotypes of unsafe behavior carried out in every sport. I think that it is unrealistic to expect that most people will really understand the dangers of cold water kayaking, unless they have some actual experience in cold or rough water. (Preferably not really dangerous experience). And if they DID know what they would have to learn, practice, purchase and carry with them, these people would just never go out in a kayak in the first place.
In this vein of thought, this is an interesting San Juan kayaking tour website: sanjuankayak.com
Forget about Shawna, Leon, and the BCU. This guy is THE MAN. “I have never had a capsize on one of my trips.” His photo gallery is full of tank topped paddlers, but the PFD are always within reach, conveniently strapped to the decks. At least on a tour there is a margin of safety in numbers.
Worf would say: “It is a good day to die and get a Darwin Award!”
Many SOTs and those shorter and wider (10-12′) kayaks commonly used for fishing because they are inexpensive are notoriously difficult to re-enter without assitance, even for fit and otherwise capable paddlers.
Bryan mentions a VHF. Is it in a PFD pocket on his torso or on the kayak that’s floating away? How about a cell phone? Is it usable and still waterproofed while swimming or does he have to take it out of a case and oops, that nasty wave just soaked the phone. Range?
Interesting observation on extreme-safety paddlers not paddling much, Derrick. All those gizmos and fear to deal with. Course, there are exceptions to everything. I like paddling to be fun. Safe, sure sure of course, but fun. If we have fun learning these playful skills and knowledge and such, it’ll be safe too without much effort.
In 2008 in Canada, many of our fatalities involved alcohol and paddling from beaches where kayaks were sitting there all pretty and innocent awaiting either victims, or paddlers.
There’s no magic teaching a paddling instructor could add to their lesson to prevent that kind of accident, is there? Pssst! No drinking and paddling! Pass it on…
Oh, we just had one of our local all-free all-sit-a-top no-experience-necessary clubs go onto our local Waterwire newsletter complaining about the tugboat captains calling kayaks “speed bumps”. Shortly thereafter I was put on the spot about that in front of a pretty cool tugboat captain (who’s also a kayaker & a surfer). Basically, I think the groups around here sometimes forget that even though most of us are safety-concious, our increasing public access also lets a lot of small boats on the water who act like speedbumps. The tugboat guy then told about the time a kayak crossing his bow (never a great idea in general) stopped to take his picture. Exactly. There’s enough Darwin award candidates out there, how is a commercial pilot supposed to know whether the kayak he or she sees lurking near the channel is one of those, or somebody with a clue?
The CG is working so hard to increase awareness. They came to the Small Boat Shop for the cold water workshop (the one where TQ & I did a rolling & rescue demo in January); the Auxiliary at the yacht club next door to Sebago comes by every year to inspect the boats of anyone who wants an inspection (they were cracking up at my kit, said I passed inspection about 4 times over), and in general they’re doing all they can to educate recreational boaters, without crossing the line into requiring certification (big extra expense, headaches & plus I don’t think the CG really wants to play THAT big of a nanny role). I’d say all the clubs & outfitters around here are pretty safety conscious – but I wonder what sort of reception the safety messages are getting from the poor Wal-Mart clerks of the world?
This hypothetical scenario makes me wonder how many recreational boaters / kayak fishermen have practiced re-entries, carry a bilge pump, or paddle float.
To answer the question: now what? Considering the fisher is solo & that has water tight bulk heads / adequate flotation bags: he would use his whistle to signal help from another boater. Help not available, he would not panic or flail but kick back to the boat as smoothly as possible. Taking hold of the taught deck lines he would obtain his paddle or spare paddle. With paddle float in place he would set up an outrigger. Then he would board the swamped boat swiftly using his practiced solo re-entry. Perhaps this would take two tries. After quickly pumping out the boat he would then take a minutes rest continuing to take advantage of the outrigger. With the aid of a map he would make an action plan to get to a populated shore as quickly as possible. After this quick rest he would use his cell phone, in dry bag, to call for help from authorities. He would state his condition, his current coordinates in relation to prominent land marks, his course and planned destination.
In the off chance someone is reading this and saying to themselves, ‘the reason I wouldn’t be able to do that is…’ you would need to change those things before solo paddling.
In defense of rec boaters I will say many of them are very good about paddling in groups (albeit often noisy groups). Which is good but might provide a false sense of security. John Dowd made a cautionary point in one of his books by saying in effect that a problem can be multiplied by a group of unprepared paddlers i.e. multiple capsizes. As much as a group could make you more safe or make a re-entry easier, it can make you that much less safe. -It all depends on the group.