Preliminary report: Louis Catlin Gills (age 82) died Friday, November 2, 2003 in a paddling accident on the Potomac River at the Washington Canoe Club in Washington, DC. It appears that he intended to launch his kayak from the clubhouse docks sometime between 1 and 2 pm on Friday afternoon. His boat was found in the debris around Key Bridge downstream from the docks at about 3:30pm (Washington Post, Nov 23, 2003). It is possible that he fell in while trying to launch the boat. The air temperature was in the seventies Friday afternoon, the day was sunny with a light breeze. Due to recent rains the river level was running quite high. The Little Falls Gauge put the flow at 100,000 CFS at about noon Friday after rising sharply during the morning, gauge water height almost 9 feet, and water temperature at 51 degrees F. On Satuday morning, when a search was carried out by divers, the river was noted to be heavily loaded with debris (logs, etc). I have no estimate of the speed of the current under those conditions, but it must have been rather high. Lou routinely carried a PFD in his boat but didn't wear it. I have been told that he did not use a wetsuit of any kind. His body has not been recovered. The boat he was using was a Fenja, which is a racing kayak about 15-16 feet long. It is similar to a Slendar, a relatively stable racing training kayak. That is stable relative to other racing boats. Compared to average touring boats, it is not so stable! I'll have some measurements in the future. Such boats resist turning. Both boats named have large cockpits that allow the racer to paddle with knees up in the cockpit. Lou was a WW ll Navy veteran; retired Navy Dept. reliability engineer, long time canoeist and kayaker; and a 48-year member and past president of the Washington Canoe Club. My wife and I have known him for many years. We even got to paddle with him a few times. He is survived by his two daughters. He leaves behind a vast number of friends who will miss him greatly and remember him kindly for years to come. Chuck Sutherland *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
The Struer Fenga 75 (and 85) were 17-0 by 20" wide according to the 1975 Canoe magazine Buyer's Guide. For the Fenga 75 the Buyer's Guide listed its use as "CR" which stood for "casual recreation" (but it was probably at least an Olympic trainer if not an outdated full on Olympic Flat Water Sprint Kayak). Most likely, like the Struer Slender, it was 5.2 meters long (~17' 0.7") by 52cm wide (~20.5"), the Olympic Flatwater racing kayak dimensions. I have paddled a Slender. It is very tippy for a sea kayak, but not nearly as tippy as most Olympic Flatwater kayaks. The Slender is considered an Olympic Flatwater trainer. I hope that if I ever reach the age of 82 that I'll still be able to keep an Olympic Flatwater kayak from tipping over for a few seconds at least. This seems to be a totally inappropriate kayak for anyone of that age. Was it his only kayak? Did he paddle regularly in it from this location? Had he just gotten some bad medical news? My mother has advanced Alzheimer's. As tragic as this kayaking "accident" may be there are a lot worse ways one can expire. Matt Broze 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/ ***************************************************************************
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