[Paddlewise] The unprepared

Today I drove over the hill from San Jose to Santa Cruz, without the boat
because I figured it would be too rough for me to want to Kayak. I went over
to the Crow's Nest for lunch figuring on a leisurely lunch watching the surf
break at the mouth of the harbor.

Sure enough the surf was breaking across the mouth of the harbor, but if I'd
had the boat I would have gone out as it wasn't more than a foot high when
it was breaking and I've already handled surf two or three times that big
without any problems.

I seated myself at a window where I could watch the channel and the mouth of
the harbor and ordered a chicken sandwich and a Sam Adams. Just before my
sandwich was delivered I noticed two kayakers heading out in small SOT's. I
sat there frustrated thinking, "Damn, I should have brought the van with the
boat!" Then came the thought, "wow they don't have any cold water gear on,
just shorts t-shirts and PFD's. I hope they're experienced because if they
fall in it's going to be really cold!" (The temperature of the water is 50
degrees today.) They sat just short of the harbor mouth for about a minute
watching the waves and then went thru' the break without any apparent
problem. They proceeded out to a point a couple hundred yards S. of the
harbor mouth and looked like they were playing the waves.

A little later I saw the harbour patrol boat go out to the dredge. The
dredge was sitting just short of the breaking waves near the mouth of the
harbor. It looked like they chatted with the dredge people for a while and
then they left and went out to where the two kayakers were about 200-300
yards S. of the harbor mouth. They hung there for several minutes and then
came back in with the kayaks sitting crossways on the back of the harbor
boat.

I finished my lunch a few minutes after that, and, before I left the area,
walked up to the harbor office and asked them what had happened. It seems
they played around for a couple of minutes and then one of them tipped over.
The dredge personnel saw this and called the HP office on Channel 16 and
suggested they might want to check out the kayakers to see if they needed
any help. By the time the HP boat got to them the kayaker was back in his
boat and paddling OK. The kayakers decided to take the HP offer of a ride
back and gave up paddling for the day. It appears that with the minute or
five of immersion and the pleasant 5 or 10 knot breeze, the unprotected
kayaker was shivering uncontrollably and didn't care to paddle any more.

The air temp. was 68-70 degrees, a _very_ pleasant day here, but with what I
know about hypothermia and the cold water temp. here, this guy could have
died there from cold exposure/drowning right in the view of 20 or 30 people
having lunch. I paddle here all the time in a dry suit and frequently get
hot enough so jump out of the boat for a cool off swim a couple of times
during a paddle. If they'd had what I consider appropriate attire, a wet
suit or dry suit, all year around, their day of fun wouldn't have been
spoiled. I figure that where the water is never more than about 54 degrees
even when the air is in the 90's I don't want to go in that water with an
unprotected body. I used to be an avid SCUBA diver and I never came in from
an hours dive in a 1/4 farmer john and jacket over an 1/8 inch vest without
having started to shiver a little towards the end of the dive. It's this
long experience with the water temp. that made me take Paddlewiser's mention
of protective clothing seriously when I got reinterested in boating.

Thanks, people, I've a lot of gear I never would have thought of, without
you folks mentioning it, and I'm sure I'm a much safer kayaker for my short
association with Paddlewise.

***************************************************************************
PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not
to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission
Submissions:     paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net
Subscriptions:   paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net
Website:         http://www.paddlewise.net/
***************************************************************************