Re: [Paddlewise] Sad news of kayaker death near Homer, Alaska

I have been out of state a few days and just picked up on this thread.

FIRST THOUGH...WELCOME BACK DOUG!

A couple comments on the Homer tradegy.
    The writers for the anchorage paper tend to be clueless when it comes to
Kayaking. They have sometimes refered to sea kayaks as "canoes" so gleaming
details from their write up is frustrating at best. They do a good job on
dog mushing and hockey but not self propelled boats.
    I think this couple got lured into this tradegy for three reasons
1) It was an "Alaska thing to do". By that I mean, part of the life style up
here is to push the edge of the envelope and then to brag about it later
(and I am as bad as anyone else) To kayak on a winter day? "If you got the
time and the weather...go for it" is a typical Alaskan attitude.

2) Good weather. Most of the winter Homer experiences cold weather and lots
of wind. On rare occasions you get a warm (relative to Alaska that is) day
when the sun is out and the wind is calm. Had I been in Homer I would have
jumped at the chance.

3) False confidence. The paper said they had paddled to Homer last summer.
Looking at the map this was no easy trip. They would have encounter some
tidal currents and possible some rips plus have negociated a 4 mile open
crossing. My guess is they had great weather , favorible winds and tide and
some good luck.  They probably ended the trip feeling pretty good about
themselves knowing they did something few people would or could have done.
So I am not surprised they had the false confidence they could handle a
short day trip, especially when the weather looked so good. Unfortunately
the wilderness is often unforgiving of false confidence.

Sadly their most serious mistake was that they were totally unprepared for
the change in weather and were not dressed propertly. I am surprised though,
that two poeple who had lived there for two years didn't know how fast the
weather can change and the effects of cold water and hypothermia.
The harsh verdict is this :they were overconfident in their abilities and
let their confidence lure them into a situation they were totally unprepared
for.

Unfortunately where it be hiking, climbing, mushing, skiing, kayaking ect.
the Alaskan wilderness doesn't tolerate the overconfident and underprepared.

Bob
"The Great Land"
Alaska

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