A 47 yr old Catholic priest from Tivoli, Tx was found dead near the Austwell boat ramp on San Antonio Bay Thursday evening around 5:00 pm. The newspaper reported that he was "still strapped into his kayak" and that the sheriffs department determined that he "was in the water for approximately an hour and was caught in rough water as a cold front came in". He was described as having been in good physical condition. No info on what type of kayak, what clothing, or whether a PFD was being worn. >From what I could find on the National Weather Service historical data websites, the wind would have been around 15 mph with gusts up to 20 mph. There was not enough historical data available to determine if this was a dramatic change at his location. I was paddling about 50 miles south of that location at about the same time. Winds were out of the east at approximately 15-18 mph. I could see a line of thunderstorm clouds moving in from the north. When the front got to our area we had north winds of 20 mph with 25mph gusts. I suspect that there could have been as high or even slightly higher winds in the area of the fatality even though the weather service stations may not have recorded them on their historical data site. I will try to get more information in the next couple of days. Mark Arnold mjamja_at_earthlink.net *************************************************************************** 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 Sat Nov 08 2003 - 13:43:23 PST
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