[Paddlewise] Canoe Rescue off Point Defiance in Fast Current

Pam and I thought that, given the nature of Paddlewise to digest safety
incidents and because there are so many well-qualified paddlers on the list,
we should put this out for discussion. There is something to learn from it,
I think.

The Seattle/Tacoma area remains ice free all year around (except for some
harbors and marinas) and boating can be done at any time. In fact, we used
to go to a nice cove every December 31st and spend New Year's Eve in a quiet
anchorage around a warm heater. Close to the heater, as I recall. Anyway,
despite this factoid the area has an official "opening day" of the boating
season which falls some time around the first of May. They have boat parades
and everything. Then they all motor to the same slip they keep their boats
in year around. Don't ask.

This incident involves currents around an area (Point Defiance) near the
Tacoma Narrows. Most of you have heard of the Tacoma Narrows and the bridge
that thrashed itself to death there. Well Point Defiance juts out into the
current stream north of Tacoma and offers some eddy protection either north
or south of the point; depending upon which way the current is flowing. The
entire point is a park operated by the City of Tacoma (with a zoo and
everything) where kayaks are rented and both canoes and kayaks are commonly
launched. Water temperatures in the area range from the low 40s (F) in to
the low 50s (F) depending upon the season and the current flow. Currents in
the Narrows itself can reach 7kts and tables show current speeds commonly
reach 4kts north of the Narrows.

The weekend of May 5th was the first nice weekend of the "boating season"
and several Puget Sound paddlers were taking rescue lessons at the beach
right next to the point (south) when they watched a canoe with two people
float around the Point and past on the flood and then turn into the eddy
south of the Point to paddle back to their launch site. But the way the
Point lays to the current the eddy ends with a strong eddy-line which has to
be crossed; at which time you're in the full flow of the current and have to
paddle at 4kts (or more) to get around the point itself.

As the canoe approached the eddy line one of the rescue students on shore, a
USCG officer, got his VHF ready to call for help should the people in the
canoe overturn and end up in the water. Reports indicated that as the canoe
crossed the eddy line into the main current they were hit by a large boat
wake and the occupants were thrown into the water wearing only street
clothing.

The USCG officer involved in the paddling class immediately keyed his VHF
and put out a Mayday for help. Three of the rescue instructors were already
on the water in their kayaks and headed right out to the swimmers. The rest
of the class also piled into their kayaks and likewise headed to the
swimmers. The USCG officer remained on shore with his radio. The
co-instructors got to the swimmers and the canoe, emptied the canoe of water
and then braced it so that the swimmers could re-enter their boat. Then the
3 co-instructors took the canoe in tow with one left to steady the canoe as
they towed it and its occupants to shore.

When the students arrive they take up positions nearby. One approached the
canoe and asked the occupants questions designed to determine their mental
state. He reported that they had been in the water about 5 minutes and
didn't seem impaired but might have been slightly disoriented.

Three boats arrived before the canoe got to the shoreline; two USCG boats
and one patrol boat from Tacoma Police Department but by this time the canoe
and its occupants were almost ashore but the two former swimmers opt to
clamber into one of the USCG boats. The female says "thanks" to the kayakers
and the male also says "thanks" but they claim that they could have swam to
shore unassisted. The implication (or maybe just my inference) is that the
male swimmer might have been somewhat irked.

Shortly after that incident a rental SOT kayak with a guy and girl (dressed
in street attire) managed to get into the main flood current and decided,
after about five minutes, that they weren't going to get around the Point
and managed to get to the beach. The girl was apparently not a happy camper
and the guy was embarassed. The students at the rescue practice towed their
kayak around the Point for them while the guy and girl trudged back to
return their rental kayak.

This seems somewhat straightforward but there has been some Monday-morning
quarterbacking (now *there* is a surprise) around the first (canoe)
incident.

1. Several people felt that calling Mayday when two swimmers were in the
water only a short distance from shore was unnecessary since the swimmers
were not really at risk with 4 instructors and several experienced kayakers
as students close by. The actual distance wasn't mentioned but I estimate it
at less than 50 feet. Others felt that since it was a USCG officer (off
duty) who made the call then everyone else should shut up. Or words to that
effect.

2. I tend to think that launching 7 or 8 kayakers to rescue two swimmers
less than 50 feet from shore was overkill. The three co-instructors
obviously had all the skills needed to cope with the situation (and did) and
the rest of the class should have either stayed on the beach or, at most,
stayed well clear. Too many cooks, etc.

3. There were several remarks about the kayak rental place not requiring
customers to be dressed for immersion; especially given the dangerous nature
of the area with strong currents and associated eddy lines and the cold
water.

4. Someone had remarked that their use of a cell phone to call 911 during a
previous incident at that same location had resulted in a 30 minute wait for
assistance. The USCG and Tacoma PD boats were there lots faster than that
and indicates that, at elast in a well populated area, a VHF call on channel
16 is effective in getting help.

5. The two canoists seemed somewhat angry that they were "rescued" from a
situation in which they could have easily swam to shore. One of the students
thought that, given the water temperature and the speed of the current, they
didn't know how close they came to death.

6. Boat wakes from large power vessels can be, in my opinion, worse than the
currents and wave trains one finds around Puget Sound. If there is one good
thing to be said about high gasoline prices, it's that maybe there won't be
quite so many 40-foot (and over) boats trying to get a semi-displacement
hull up onto a plane with sheer horsepower. Ok... maybe this isn't a
discussion point but it's one of my pet peeves.

I might add as an afterthought that a few years ago, while paddling near the
University of Washington I witnessed a power boat, apparently driven by
people involved with the UW canoe rental program, swamp a canoe with two
girls aboard about 200 yards off the rental docks. The power boat was
running off-plane but fast and leaving a large wake which tipped the girls
over. I sat by and watched these twits spend 25 minutes (with the girls in
the water) trying to get the canoe up onto their boat and empty it. The
water temp was in the 70s so no one was in danger and I eventually got bored
and paddled away. The last I saw they were still trying to get the canoe
empty. The stupidity of people who can just turn a key and drive a boat away
from a dock should never be underestimated.

Any comments?


Craig Jungers
Moses Lake, WA
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