Hi Chuck I discounted the word "experienced" heavily as well. It sounds like he had been a renter or borrower of kayaks before getting his own kayak which would indicate a fairly new paddler maybe unfamiliar with rough water. I was thinking shaken from his recent experience in a kayak he might have tried making it back to help overland. If he made it to shore he certainly wouldn't have tried to swim to another island in rough water when he could have emptied out the kayak and paddled along shore. Possibly he was quite hypothermic and went into the woods looking for shelter out of the wind. I don't know the area so know how populated it would be anywhere nearby or how difficult it would be to get to help. The kayak full of water indicates he probably had capsized. If he was wearing a life jacket when he left he was probably still wearing it when he capsized. Given the items found in the kayak it doesn't sound like they had floated out of an abandoned kayak unless someone else arrived on the scene first, gathered up the gear floating around and put it all back in the kayak. My bet is he made it to shore with the kayak and took of the life jacket. Got himself dressed as warmly as possible (maybe wringing most of the water out of his clothes and headed for shelter from the wind. Possibly in a pretty hypothermic state from his swim with the kayak. From: skimmer_at_enter.net To: marinerkayaks_at_msn.com Subject: Teen accident Date: Thu, 7 Jul 2011 21:41:31 -0400 *************************************************************************** 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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