Scott wrote: <snip> >Perhaps someone can enlighten me, but I am not aware of any SEA KAYAKERS having been > found dead while still seated in their boats with the sprayskirt in place. Rex responded: <Snip>>>>>>Scott, Two or three years ago there was a woman in Bellingham, Washington, who borrowed a new skirt from a friend and went out alone to practice rolling. She was found dead in the kayak with the skirt tightly in place.<<<<< As with most solo kayaking fatalities it is unclear what happened in that incident and for some reason the authorities would never release the autopsy report. A police officer from that area was in my shop one day a year or more later and told me about that accident. He said the cause of death was a massive heart attack rather than drowning. I asked him if he could send me a copy of the coroner's report that he said he had read. He never did send it. Nancy Rager, the victim, was a very experienced (over 10 years I believe) and accomplished kayaker. She had been observed rolling many times just before the incident. I heard a rumor that the boaters who found her had reported the spraydeck difficult to remove, but then they weren't kayakers and didn't know how it was normally done either and wouldn't have known to look for the release strap or have noticed if it had been tucked under. Unfortunately the spraydeck was lost somewhere along the way to or at the hospital so tests could not be done later to see if that might have been a problem. But Scott, even in Washington state, this isn't the only incident of a kayaker being found dead in the cockpit with a spraydeck attached. In the mid to late 1980's a young male paddler in a folding single was found upside down in his kayak with the spraydeck still on. This occurred in Summit Lake near Olympia, WA. It was night and he had been paddling solo, so again the evidence as to what really happened is sketchy at best. I investigated this incident and talked to the coroner and friends and relatives of the victim trying to understand what might have happened (and I pretty much ruled out suicide or foul play as the cause). I don't know if that incident ever got written up for Sea Kayaker magazine. Possibly it was mentioned. If so, it wasn't me who wrote it. If I recall correctly the water temperature in Summit Lake at the time was 38 degrees. Sudden drowning seems like a possibility here but it also could have been due to a failure to remove the spraydeck underwater. Doug was in water at least 7 or 8 degrees F. warmer near Trial Island when the cold water and "ice cream" headache disoriented him and made it impossible for him to do a Reenter and Roll. I once tried to dive for a customers glasses in 10 feet of water off our launch dock in Lake Washington one winter and couldn't do it due to the pain until I brought my neoprene hood the next day. Rescues that don't require putting your head back under cold water have a definite advantage in my mind. When looking for material for "Deep Trouble" I looked in all my files and couldn't find anything about the Summit Lake tragedy (and some other incidents that I had written about that weren't ever published). In searching my computer just now the only mention of "Summit Lake" in it was a note to Chris Cunningham, the editor for "Deep Trouble" and Sea Kayaker, asking if Sea Kayaker magazine still had those unpublished incidents I had sent them many years before. Alan Byde reported on deaths in Britain due to entrapment many years ago. He wrote a poem about it and blamed the manufacturers for using overly wide cockpit rims, as I recall. Having almost succumbed this way myself the second time I was ever in a kayak I can attest to the very real danger with new paddlers and/or new equipment. I would suggest that those who think a Reentry and Roll using a paddlefloat is faster than an outrigger paddle float rescue have not also timed the extra time it takes to fasten the spraydeck and pump out the additional water that the Reenter and Roll scoops up (because the paddlers weight is in the kayak while it is being righted). I think the timed period for comparison purposes should be from the time of capsize to the time the kayak is emptied to a level where reasonable stability has returned. Yes, you can paddle a swamped kayak if you have a good bracing skills but it is much harder to stay upright now (remember, you are having to paddle a swamped kayak with free water sloshing around and destabilizing you and changing the balance constantly in conditions that already capsized you when the kayak was much drier and easier to handle). By the way Sid, I almost never use an all neoprene spraydeck except in a river kayak or when surfing. Too hot and they tend to limit rotation at the waist. I bet that with any neoprene spray deck that you can get over your butt you can also get your arm down into to release it from the inside as Peter described in his tests. I suggest you try this technique like Peter did before being so quick to dismiss it based on remembered "experience" and "common knowledge". From the dismissive tone of your post I'm going to guess you are mostly a WW paddler doing a little "slumming " on this list and are under 40. Chris at Sea Kayaker has okayed going ahead with an article on entrapment incidents so if anyone on this list has experienced their own frightening incident or witnessed one I would like to hear from you. Names don't need to be used. Also, if you have heard about such an incident and might be able to send me in the right direction to look for the near victim or a witness, please let me know that information as well. Thanks Matt Broze http://www.marinerkayaks.com *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Fri Mar 09 2001 - 02:48:02 PST
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:30:38 PDT