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. *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
Its probably not a coincidence that this is not the first time a rescue operation has been launched due to the paddling activities of one of the more prominent participants in this tragedy. Going down the list of what they did and didn't do, it seems (to a sea kayaker) like safety was not given much thought at all. Maybe its unfair to say this as I'm sure they are all feeling awful and having many second thoughts in hindsight, but even the writeup they did on the incident seems to show complete unawareness of how this came to pass. There was little acknowledgment that they could have done this or that better, or that they did anything wrong, while most of those (many) things are glaringly obvious to safety minded folks in sea kayak culture. Hopefully I'm reading that wrong and behind their description they do recognize the multitude of mistakes that were made. Wayne *************************************************************************** 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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