Dave Seng said: > Last summer while returning from a multiday fishing/skiff trip I >encountered a solo kayaker about 25 miles south of Juneau. He waved his >arms and I slowly approached - he didn't speak English very well and my >Swedish(?) isn't very good, but I eventually understood that he wanted to >know whether the inlet a mile distant was Tracy Arm - I told him no, that >it was another 20 or so miles further and then, reconsidering, gave him my >chart. (snipping done) When I was paddling down from Bella Bella last April with the other two fellows, we had just finished a crossing of Smith Sound, between Kelp Head and Cape Caution. This sound is notorious for open swell, wind and wind-waves that break due to the steepening conditions. A light plane buzzed overhead during the crossing of the sound, then buzzed us closer a bit later when we attempted to pull into Indian Cove (where gale force winds were blowing us offshore). The next day was the Storm Island crossing, which we didn't complete due to a conspiracy of tides, gales, circumstances and poor planning. I phoned a number of North Island kayak tour operators a month after the rescue to find out if anybody knew about the persistent "net" ebb we had encountered. I also called one fellow who runs a year 'round water taxi service (the one we were supposed to call if we couldn't make it across once nearer to Port Hardy on the mainland side) does mothership tours during the summer -- and also flies a float plane. He put two and two together, and realized I was one of the three paddlers he had seen crossing Smith Sound that short time back. He could absolutely not believe anyone would or could be out paddling in those conditions that day. This led to a discussion about paddler awareness, competency, preparedness, and other issues - he was all over this one! As a kayaker, industry-involved businessman/skipper, pilot, and long-term resident of the North, he expressed grave concerns over the number of unprepared paddlers he encounters in increasing numbers every year, headed up the inside passage or out to the Haki wilderness area. While he admitted conditions are obviously much better during the regular season than those we had encountered in early spring, low pressure systems still move through the area with some frequency, and fog (with associated wind still present) is almost guaranteed in summer too. He went on to relate a number of experiences that he is finding all too common in that remote wilderness area. The one I most vividly remember him describing involved a young paddler with a foreign accent. Apparently he had been lost for about two days in sea fog, which usually can persist in the area for a couple of days until dryer winds clear the fog out. The pilot was flying over Smith Sound, about the time the fog was starting to break up. The sea surface was getting choppy. Through a break in the fog, the pilot saw a flare go off. He circled back and figured he better land on the water while he still could, though the paddler did not appear too in distress. He shut down the props just as the paddler pulled up. The young man was very agitated. He was having difficulty finding the fishing camp in Rivers Inlet (one whole sound back!), and was basically lost. The paddler had no charts - just a BC Ferries' brochure with a schematic overview lacking any detail. I don't remember the rest of the details, but suffice it to say, the pilot was absolutely dumfounded (at least the paddler had a flare). The man I spoke with on the phone said though it was against Canadian federal laws, he carried a cockpit mounted VHF radio in the plane and monitored channel 16, as well as one of the local chit-chat channels, as all too often someone ill prepared was having difficulty. This concurs with what the Coast Guard told us three paddlers after rescue, namely that we were just the tip of the iceberg up there in terms of paddlers needing assistance. The CG recently pulled another dead body, partially decomposed, from the area -- which they suspect to be a missing paddler from a while ago. A few years ago, most people canoed a lot more, and more canoes were on the water in less remote, difficult areas. If winds did come up, or other difficulties presented themselves, you simply got off the water fast. Expert canoeists went a little longer, kneeling down when things got a bit rough. The modern day sea kayaker has a vessel that is so much more well suited to the vagaries associated with waterborne travel. But it is also so easy to paddle into conditions way over one's current skill level or level of preparedness. Sea kayaking is a safe, fun sport, but you really need to know what you are doing, and work diligently at the soft and hard skills requisite. I really hope there is a resurgence in canoes over the next decade, as that is a sufficient craft for a large majority of the population, and is less enticing a vessel to get into trouble with. Anyway, my own unbalancing hypocrisy is casing me to tumble off my soap box, so I'll eddie-out now before mixing any more metaphores. BC'in Ya Doug Lloyd *************************************************************************** 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 Sat May 06 2000 - 00:30:01 PDT
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