[Paddlewise] Updated tethering death

A couple of people got hold of me to request permission to run my previous
post in their club newsletters regarding the San Juan Island death. Here is
what I am sending, based on a further conversation with the Sheriff's
department today. Changes include the fact a knife was found in the PFD.
Added is the tether lenght -- 4 to 6-inches, fairly stupid I would say.
And, a spray skirt was worn, but it was not secured to the boat. Thank you
Julio and Dan for a couple of your thoughts interpolated below. 

Reality Bites

On July 4th, 1999, a 37- year old man had left his Friday Harbor home to do
a little holiday weekend fishing. Somewhere close to Raccoon Point on Orcas
Island, located in the American San Juan Islands, something went tragically
wrong for the avid fisherman. Michael Paxson was found dead, upside-down
and still seated in his kayak, about two miles west of Point Lawrence. He
was located at 11:20 a.m. It was determined he had been dead for about four
hours. 

I called the County Sheriff's department and spoke with the detective
assigned to the investigation. He confirmed the accidental nature of death
by drowning. From that interview I learned that Micheal was an avid
kayak-fisherman, and not a novice. He had been paddling a normal
sea-touring kayak with a typical large keyhole cockpit arrangement. His
paddle was found inside the kayak with him. He was wearing a spray skirt,
though it was not secured around the cockpit rim. He was wearing a PFD, and
evidence suggests he was having lunch while fishing. He had tandem fishing
poles deployed, both port and starboard, tucked tightly between each side
of the cockpit rim and his thighs, respectively. 

When Michael was found, his poles were still deployed with lengths of
fishing line reeled out. The fishing line had entwined itself around
Michael's upper limbs. It is not known if he had been entangled during some
ensuing struggle, or whether the lines entangled themselves subsequently
after death. In what can only be described as an ill-conceived notion on
the part of the unfortunate paddler, a miniature carabiner was also found
clipped to a line running from bow to stern (possibly the deck line). The
carabiner was attached to his PFD by a short line around 4 to 6-inches "at
the very most." Speculation by the investigators strongly indicates this
arrangement was a significant contributory factor to Michael's inability to
wet-exit.

The detective agreed with me that the short tether meant exiting the kayak
would be restricted to only the side where the paddler had clipped himself
to. We both concurred that by pivoting and twisting in a clipped-in state,
the user of such a system would be lucky to even get their head above the
water surface on that same side. If the combination of entanglement in the
fish line and the inability to undo the carabiner was true, Michael was
completely helpless while he died from drowning. I mentioned to the
detective that a proper tether system should allow the paddler complete
freedom to exit and set-up for a self-rescue 

I would add that those fishing from a kayak should determine a safe,
efficient way of securing their paddle while attending to the task of
fishing, and that the paddle should always be readily accessible. I think
tethering is a good idea for kayak fishing, incase the kayak is heartily
pulled along by some large specimen of fish -- where there is a possibility
of exiting and loosing the kayak or other risks of separation exist. While
a good survival knife should always be carried and accessible, multiple
fishing lines and even one's own tether might prevent its deployment and
use, and that's only if the paddler is able to hold their breath long
enough to even begin to extract themselves from such a predicament. The use
of a super short tether a Michael had employed, speaks for itself above.

BC'in Ya
Doug Lloyd

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