At 02:42 PM 9/24/00 -0700, ralph diaz wrote: >Both of the kayakers who died were University of Washington students. >Seattle being a thriving sea kayaking populated area probably tends to >draw university students to the activity. Here in the East, we don't >have such sharply concentrated areas of sea kayaking that would have >such spillover into the university community. Indeed, the University of Washington has a very active kayak club called the University Kayak Club (http://students.washington.edu/~ukc/main/UKCmain.cgi). We have a fleet of 13 sea kayaks, 20+ whitewater kayaks, and all of the auxiliary gear including drytops and wetsuits. Trips go out year round. We have usually around 400 members by the end of each school year. I'm quite proud to be part of the UKC, which teaches many students how to kayak in an extremely safety conscious manner. We checked the UKC roster, and neither of the two missing kayakers was a UKC member. Regarding the double fatality, I would say that the trip those two embarked upon was extremely ambitious. Many exposed crossings of more than three miles, very strong currents and exposure to extremely long fetch to the north (Strait of Georgia). The crossing from Patos to Tumbo island involves crossing Boiling Reef, with severe tide rips, and Haro Strait. There is also Parker Reef, which appears prominently in a story in Deep Trouble. Given that their kayak was found on the north shore of Orcas, and one body was found in Rosario Strait, I wonder if Parker Reef is what did them in. A kayak would be blown to shore quickly in the north wind, while a body would follow the currents conceivably around Lawrence Point and into Rosario Strait. My inference from the story is that they were in a double kayak. Perhaps the extra width and primary stability of most doubles combined with 3-4 beam seas along their projected east-west route is a contributing factor to their probable capsize and inability to self-rescue. (flameproof underwear donned :) Kevin Kevin Whilden Your Planet Earth http://www.yourplanetearth.org (206) 788-0281 (ph) (206) 788-0284 (f) *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Sun Sep 24 2000 - 19:27:45 PDT
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