I have not had a lot of success in getting information on the accident at Austwell. The Coast Guard is not involved in the investigation. The primary investigating officer from the sheriff's department has been off duty since shortly after the accident and I have not been able to talk with him. I did talk with the 2nd officer at the scene. He arrived after the victim had been removed from the kayak. He did say that the victim was wearing a PFD, had some additional "safety gear" attached to the kayak, and had a knife accessible. From the other officer he understood that the victim had been found upside down tied to the kayak with a strap. He did see the kayak and said that the strap was similar to a seat belt. There was no sign that the knife had been used to try to cut the strap. He was not familiar with kayaks in general and did not know the make and model of the one involved in the accident. When I questioned him about sit-on-top vs cockpit he described the kayak as covering the legs and the victim as having a "cover" to keep out the water. The deputy's description sounded like a touring kayak with a spray skirt. However, a description I got from a person who saw it on TV made it seem to be more like a surf-ski so I am not sure of the true type of kayak. The deputy described the water conditions as rough with 3-4 ft waves breaking over a low dock located at the boat ramp. This is a very shallow bay so 3-4 waves would be very steep and/or breaking. Water temps were in the high 70's and probably did not play a part in the fatality. From the location where they found the victim they deputies are assuming that he never left the launch area. Their original thoughts on causes were a heat attack just after launching or a wave flipping the victim up against the dock (especially if he launched from the dock) resulting in a blow to the head rendering him unconscious. At the time I talked with this deputy there was no autopsy information available to confirm either scenario. The victim was in his late 40's and was described as an avid kayaker who was in good physical conation. He was known to carry his kayak on his car most of the time so that he could get in a paddle whenever the opportunity presented itself. I do not have any information on his skill level or training. I will try to get in touch with the primary deputy later this week. 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 Mon Nov 17 2003 - 08:11:37 PST
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