Re: [Paddlewise] SOT question

<skimmer_at_mail3.enter.net> wrote:

> I am getting some useful feedback on the Cabbage Island accident, 
> which I greatly appreciate.
> 
> Here is a question. An SOT must float rather high on the water, since 
> capsizing isn't going to flood the hull. In anyone's opinion or 
> experience, is a 12-mph breeze, perhaps enhanced by 
> wave action in relatively shallow water, strong enough to drive an SOT 
> away from a swimmer who may be only a weak swimmer?

Absolutely, yes.  In fact, using the 7 to 1 ratio (I think that's from Dowd's
book, maybe Burch), 12 knots of wind translates to about 1.7 knots of drift for
an unoccupied kayak.  That is a fair swimming speed over distance, though most
of us who swim could sprint at 2 or 3 knots for a while.

> Some writers are saying I was TOO HARD on power boaters. Since the 
> accident occurred in the vicinity of the IW, the possibility that a 
> big wake from a rapidly moving, deep-draft vessel caused the capsize 
> MUST be considered. Such a wake moving into the shallows bordering 
> the IW could be intimidating, in my opinion.

Well, I suspect it is moot whether you were too hard on power boaters.  We are
speculating here.

I've paddled and boated in the area where the drowning occurred, and the
"ethic" down there does not include much consideration for encumbered craft
operating in/near the ICW or other charted (and dredged) channels.  I have been
the victim of horrendous wakes generated by fast-moving power boats that passed
my flank at 20 knots plus!  And, the surf generated in the shallows (often a
couple dozen yards away from the side of the channel trench) is amazing.  (Fun
to surf if you're ready for it.)

Thye don't slow down in that area, in my experience.  They give the required
two signals (most of the time) and blast past.

P.S., Chuck, they abbreviate Intracoastal Waterway "ICW" for some reason down
there.

-- 
Dave Kruger
Astoria, OR
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