>From: Doug Lloyd <dlloyd_at_bc.sympatico.ca> >I'm in the middle of doing an accident report from Baffin Island where two >kayakers died from hypothermia after a capsize, due to katabatic winds. >They were wearing Mustang suites. The water was like "liquid ice", in terms >of temperature. Their only hope after immersion was to get to dry land >immediately, where they would have had a chance. The winds didn't allow >that. The suits didn't allow swimming. The suites didn't allow them a >chance. About ten years ago I "assisted" two shellfish poachers in the Broken Islands. They had anchored their motor skiff "Haida style" on a reef. (the "Haida" technique keeps your boat from being pounded on shore where you can't actually land: you drop the anchor a bit offshore, then motor or paddle into shore, jump ashore and push your boat back out to sea, keeping hold of a second line running from boat to shore. When you want the boat again, you just reel it in.) Their ship-to-shore line had come unfastened from the reef and the current had snatched it away. The force of the current kept too much of a "cantenary" curve in the line for me to straighten it out enough to reach them with my kayak, so I tied a bolan in the end of it, clipped in my throw line (the only time I have ever used it "for real") and tossed it to the pair. They were wearing full Mustang suits, which are pretty standard issue 'round here for whale-watching guides (and their clients) and others at sea for a long time in open boats. However, the reef was covered by the tide two hours after they got back in their boat, and they would not have been able to swim - just drift. The wind would propably have carried them out to sea. I've often admired Mustang suits at boat shows - they are a Canadian success story. I think they're brillantly engineered for their intended purposes, but those purposes do not include being worn while paddling or even being donned in a kayak. Somewhat like non-paddling PFDs, they are more geared to keeping you alive while you await rescue by someone else, rather than letting you rescue yourself. Philip Torrens N49°16' W123°06' *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************Received on Tue Nov 16 1999 - 08:23:53 PST
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