Re: [Paddlewise] Resuce in the Strait of Juan de Fuca

From: <Pamvetdr_at_aol.com>
Date: Sat, 8 Jan 2011 14:15:21 -0500 (EST)
Thanks for posting this account! An excellent narrative by the person  
involved.
    The most egregious item I see is the failure to repair  bad seals on 
the drysuit. Without these, it's like a zip-lock baggy  with holes in it, not 
a drysuit.
 
    Personal account-After a recent long day in Deception  Pass, I realized 
that I was exhausted. I had rolled up after every other capsize  that day, 
but at the end of the day, last capsize, into a whirlpool no  way could I 
roll. I was disoriented once underwater and had no reserves. I  wet exited, 
held onto the kayak, but had my head (well, my entire body) pulled  underwater 
due to the force of the whirlpool. Luckily (no, it was planning on  the 
instructors part) we had gone over this before the session started, and  were 
told that whirlpools in Deception Pass move dynamically. If you are in  
trouble, wait and the whirlpool will move (let's say this is generally true but  
perhaps not always, especially in the Room of Doom). 5 or 10 seconds later, 
I  could surface.
    I was given an assisted rescue and was able to continue.  However, I 
recognized that I had really overdone it, and had no reserves at that  point. 
 
     Perhaps a similar situation occurred  with Dale, especially after not 
kayaking for 2 1/2 weeks.   Congratulations to him for surviving, not 
panicking, and even recovering his  kayak!  One question- did he have a knife 
handy for removing all the lines  he and his kayak were tangled in? It's fine to 
take time to disengage, but in  another scenario, he may have needed to cut 
the lines.
     Best wishes for future kayaking!
               Pam in Washington state
 
 
 
 
In a message dated 1/8/2011 8:11:47 A.M. Pacific Standard Time,  
mstoccardo_at_hotmail.com writes:

Excellent Accident report by Dale (kayaker in incident) in an  associated
article:
http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20110105/NEWS/110109990/0/NEWS/in-
d
ale-moses-own-words-i-was-rescued-and-can-tell-the-tale

>  Date: Wed, 5 Jan 2011 07:35:09 -0800
> From:  kayakbound_at_yahoo.com
>
> A thousand pardons to the list if this is  a redundant  post!
>
>
http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20110105/NEWS/301059986/rescued-ka
y
aker-writes-what-he-did-wrong-in-brush-with-death
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Received on Tue Jan 11 2011 - 14:37:51 PST

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