I received this report from Paul Caffyn just before mid day Friday, 25 February. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chris talked to me next am: Talked to Chris early am 24 Feb. Late pm on 22 Feb, some 10 miles north of St Anne Point, which is at the entrance to Milford Sound, Chris attempted a landing through 8 foot high surf. He was capsized twice on the way to the beach but rolled successfully each time. At the beach he was too slow exiting the kayak and pulling it clear of the sucky bumper dumpers. His kayak was sucked back and smashed almost in half on the beach. Part of the cockpit rim gone, some deck/hull joins opened up, and boat quite flexible beneath the cockpit area. He tried Fiordland maritime radio to hire a chopper with no success. His parka raised on poles above the beach failed to attract the attention of a passing fixed wing, a passing helo. Four fishing boats offshore did not respond to his VHF calls. While radioing a passing cruise liner, Fiordland M.R. responded and Chris was able to charter a Squirrel from Milford to transport him and the kayak back to Milford. Chris is keen to continue the trip. He will attempt to have the boat repaired, failing that he will borrow another kayak. cheers Paul ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Alex . . Alex (Sandy) Ferguson Chemistry Department University of Canterbury New Zealand *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:33:09 PDT