[Paddlewise] Surf-Ski Death

A paddle-float so both paddlers could have stayed upright on one surf-ski,
flares and/or a cell phone or VHF in the PFD pocket (of either paddler) could
have made a difference here. Even a tow rope and a way to tow a surf-ski back
might have saved him (so if the paddler had to be left behind the rescuer
could go directly downwind for the kayak and bring it back rather than go off
to a distant shore that will take too long to reach. The rescuer would have
been better off paddling his surf-ski after the wind blown surf-ski rather
than trying to swim after it. If he had know that that wouldn't have been
possible he wouldn't have wasted time trying it. In this situation where there
is no other choice but to leave the swimmer, leaving the swimmer with a paddle
would mean he could wave it high above the wavetops to increase his chances of
being seen when his kayak was being towed back into the wind towards him (or
if other rescuers were in the area when he might be able to make himself more
visible with it). Even without a tow rope, perhaps the best thing to do, in
hindsight, would have been to quickly chase down the drifting kayak and hold
it somehow (maybe straddle both skis and paddle upwind) to at least hold
position against the wind drift so the victim could swim downwind to the
rafted skis. Hopefully, the surf-ski communtity will use this trajedy to
institute some on water practices in strong winds to learn what are the best
solutions to the problems these paddlers faced and then spread the word widely
in the surf-ski community so this kind of trajedy is a lot less likely to
happen again.

A paddle leash tied to the surf-ski could have backed up the leg leash.

Testing needs to be done with Velcro type leash attachments (leg or paddle--to
see if Velcro is really adequate to the task--especially old worn Velcro).

Here is a thought. How about a sea anchor that is tied to the kayak's stern
with the chute velcroed to the paddler's PFD back so that if the paddler falls
over and the kayak gets away from him in the wind it will automatically be
deployed to point the stern into the wind and slow the kayak's drift enough so
that even a solo swimmer could catch it again. Maybe it could be added to the
tether somehow so if it failed the sea anchor would slow the kayak's drift
speed to near zero.
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