Typical of a story like this, there are far more unknowns than knowns, but a Maryland man is presumed dead after falling from a kayak rented on the Virginia side of the Potomac yesterday. Some information at http://www.wtop.com/?nid=722&sid=2016321. Reading between the sound bites and the press reports, a Prince George man, 46, and his nephew, 19, rented (probably) sit-on-tops from an agency on a quiet cove, just south of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge (where the Washington beltway crosses the Potomac). For unstated or unknown reasons, they both fell into the water; the nephew survived -- again, sketchy reports on this -- but the uncle remains missing and, as of this morning, is presumed dead. Early information indicates that the rental agency provided PFDs of some sort with the rentals, but indefinite information on whether the two men were using them. Also some indication that the older man could not swim. Anything else at this point in time would be total speculation. It does appear likely that these two men were not regular or experienced kayakers. Hopefully, there will be more facts forthcoming -- and, hopefully, before the news story loses its potential to influence the public re basic safety issues. Joq *************************************************************************** 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 Sun Aug 01 2010 - 06:50:37 PDT
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:31:43 PDT