This Friday (February 11, 2011) a dragonboat/-canoe with 2 teachers and 13 pupils capsized in a Danish fjord (Prfstx Fjord on the eastside of Zealand, 10 km from where I live) about 500 meters from land. All information is not available yet but this far the following seems to be the case: The boat was trying to set a new record in the fjord that looks like a lake in open land without any protection from wind. Wind speed was about 4-5 m/sek initially but rapidly increasing to about 10 m/sek with gusts around 14-15 m/sek. The decision was apparently made to turn around as the wind increased but in doing this the boat capsized. The water temperature was about 2 degrees centigrade. Adequate clothing (dry- og wet-suit) was not used although ordinary PFDs was used by all. There was no known attempt to reach SAR after the capsize. It's likely there was no means for it. One pupil managed to swim to shore and afterwards run about 1 km to a store from where the SAR was alarmed. With more than one hours delay a major rescue operation was initiated. 13 pupils and one teacher was found within the next hour. Many in an unconscious state floating in there PFDs. One teacher is still missing and is expected to be dead. 6 pupils are still being kept in coma and their outcome is uncertain. It's not possible to know whether or to which extent there are damages to their brains. They have suffered stop of heartbeat and body temperatures are reported to have been around 16 degrees centigrade. All circumstances are not available yet. The boat was not approved as it should have been and the persons that may be held responsible are all busy telling that they are not to blame. Insurance have just started to comment on the possibilities for compensations. regards Jens Viggo Moesmand Denmark *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
On Tuesday, 15 February 2011 03:41 Jens said: a dragonboat capsized in a Danish fjord (Praestoe) Thanks for the report Jens. This is a spectacular confirmation of the ability of PFDs to keep 50% of the people alive for over an hour - in water as cold as you would ever want not to swim in (2C/36F). Let us hope that there is more good news of those still in treatment. >From other news coverage, it appears that the students were six boys and seven girls - aged between 15 and 17. In my (admittedly not extensive) experience, I would expect many in this category to be easily hypothermic. It would be worthwhile to know what they were all wearing (fabrics, etc) and how their BMI correlated with the time-in-water and their consciousness / core temperatures. Grim reading, but a good opportunity for some learning... Best Regards Paul Hayward, Auckland, New Zealand *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
On Tuesday, 15 February 2011 12:29 Tony said > survival times are not long Tony, my point was that in spite of decades of accepted wisdom of survival times from 2 to 15 minutes (when dropped suddenly into 2C water) - more than half were alive after an hour or more. That considerably enhances the survival value of a PFD - a lot more can happen in an hour than in a few minutes. When people are training (ie: sweating hard in light clothing), getting them to wear PFDs is an uphill job. Getting them to wear wet or drysuits is going to be much harder and possibly a recipe for hyperthermic death. Often a chase boat is considered an acceptable alternative. As you say, it is very lucky (and, to me, interesting) that one guy was cold-resistant enough (to maintain muscle co-ordination in that degree of cold) to swim 500m to shore. The fastest possible time for this (racing in a warm pool) is over 4 minutes - so in a choppy cold ocean and clothing it might take 2 or 3 times as long. From the performance levels in the USCG Cold-Water Boot-Camp film, fit and practiced swimmers failed shorter distances. After this immersion time, he still retained concentration and muscular ability to run a km... Without trying to be flippant, was it Viking blood, practice or polypros? Best Regards Paul Hayward, Auckland, New Zealand -----Original Message----- From: Tony Ford [mailto:tford_at_web.de] Subject: RE: [Paddlewise] Capsize of dragonboat with 15 in Denmark. Hello Paul, Yes, that is learning the hard way. >From my understanding, although they had some form of PFD, no protective clothing for cold water immersion was worn. With water at 2 degrees centigrade, survival times are not long. They seem at least been somewhat lucky that one of those capsized was fit enough to swim ashore and raise the alarm. I live about 300 milws to the South and we have cold biting Easterly winds - straight from Northern Russia. Not nice. Kind regards Tony *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
On Mon, Feb 14, 2011 at 5:10 PM, Paul Hayward <pdh_at_mmcl.co.nz> wrote: > Without trying to be flippant, was it Viking blood, practice or polypros? > > Youth. Younger people seem to survive cold water immersion better than old folks. At any rate I'd be careful not to derive too much out of this. After all, there are at least two documented cases of people falling out of airplanes at altitude and surviving. Doesn't make me want to take the chance. Craig Jungers Moses Lake, WA www.nwkayaking.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/ ***************************************************************************
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