Kayakers missing near Victoria

tinman

tinman

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It doesnt look like a good ending. While I am over on the mainland, it was quite windy that day and I imagine the water could have been quite rough out in the channel. Plus the tides could carry them quite a ways.

globalnews.ca

Body found in U.S. waters amid search for missing B.C. kayakers: RCMP | Globalnews.ca

Searchers south of the border have not yet identified the body as belonging to one of the missing kayakers, according to RCMP.
globalnews.ca globalnews.ca
 
That’s so unfortunate. Probably we will never know the circumstances that led up to it. I don’t want to speculate, and I hope that they do find them ok somewhere, but at this point it seems unlikely. As we all know things can go wrong real fast.
 
Morbid curiosity leads me to wonder what the experience level of the paddlers was, as well as their equipment, etc.

A sad ending seems most likely, and I feel for all involved.
 
Equipment, experience, and the huge lack of knowledge are the big ones I see lacking a lot of in kayaking and hiking and unfortunately that often leads to problems. I once had to rescue a young girl in the middle of the Pitt river who had a fold up polyethylene boat bought off Amazon, that folded up in the middle of the river and became swamped. It was not possible to reboard this boat as the sides were so flimsy they would bend down to the water line and reflood the boat. She was with another kayaker. Luckily both had their pfds on, but neither knew what to do, or had any other gear to assist in reboarding or towing. The water was calm enough that her friend towed her to shore and I towed her boat.
 
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As of Wednesday evening, it looks like both bodies have been recovered, both wearing their PFDs. A very unfortunate outcome.
 
as for experience:
" “They had used the kayak for other smaller adventures, but not quite as far as that trip,” said John."

pfds mentioned, but not of immersion protection, immersion practice, etc.
 
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Another very sad, preventable tragedy. The high primary stability of a double when paddling on flat water can lull paddlers into complacency. Doubles are hard to self-rescue, particularly in "conditions". From a risk/rescue standpoint, paddling a double or triple is essentially paddling solo. Significantly, the fact that they had no thermal protection (wetsuit or drysuit) guaranteed that both paddlers experienced maximum-intensity cold shock the instant that they capsized. They were unable to self-rescue and failed to stay with their kayak. They also had no way to call for help. According to news reports, they had embarked on a 3.7 mile (6km) crossing from D'Arcy Island to Island View Beach. The first body was recovered across Haro Straight on the south shore of San Juan Island, 17+ miles (27+ km) SE of their Island View Beach destination.
 
CPS said:
Morbid curiosity leads me to wonder what the experience level of the paddlers was, as well as their equipment, etc.

A sad ending seems most likely, and I feel for all involved.
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"Experience" is a very loose term. News reports frequently characterize victims as experienced, however, closer examination almost always proves otherwise. These two paddlers wore no thermal protection, had no communication devices, and were unable to recover from a capsize. I prefer "safety-conscious" as a more appropriate term when evaluating accidents. They definitely were not. It's not unusual for paddlers to get lulled into complacency. That seems to be the case here.
 
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"The high primary stability of a double when paddling on flat water can lull paddlers into complacency. Doubles are hard to self-rescue, particularly in "conditions". From a risk/rescue standpoint, paddling a double or triple is essentially paddling solo"

Moulton, I think the above sentences are self contradictory:

1) as doubles actually have higher primary stability [as you state], from a risk standpoint paddling a double[triple] is NOT essentially paddling solo [ie from a risk standpoint].
ie a double is safer than a single from a risk standpoint. . . . especially for inexperienced, unskilled etc.

2) "doubles are hard to self-rescue . . . "
'self-rescue' needs to be defined for this, but I would say in a desperate scenario - self rescue at the minimum means getting the body somewhat out of the water and supported by the kayak. This is possible by beginners if they pull themselves partially up from either side with their feet still kicking in the water on ea side. ie it is more achievable and balance-able by beginners than single kayaks and in this aspect doubles also are safer from a risk/rescue standpoint.

Now, I have not seen what type of double they were actually paddling, but base the above on what a typical double seakayak configuration is with individual ckpts and bulkheads. If one of the combined ckpts with no bulkhds or minimal floatation, most comments above are less appropriate except one might still think that some initial stability is higher for their typical wider [tho' shorter]
body form and boxier cross-section.
 
mick_allen said:
"The high primary stability of a double when paddling on flat water can lull paddlers into complacency. Doubles are hard to self-rescue, particularly in "conditions". From a risk/rescue standpoint, paddling a double or triple is essentially paddling solo"

Moulton, I think the above sentences are self contradictory:

1) as doubles actually have higher primary stability [as you state], from a risk standpoint paddling a double[triple] is NOT essentially paddling solo [ie from a risk standpoint].
ie a double is safer than a single from a risk standpoint. . . . especially for inexperienced, unskilled etc.

2) "doubles are hard to self-rescue . . . "
'self-rescue' needs to be defined for this, but I would say in a desperate scenario - self rescue at the minimum means getting the body somewhat out of the water and supported by the kayak. This is possible by beginners if they pull themselves partially up from either side with their feet still kicking in the water on ea side. ie it is more achievable and balance-able by beginners than single kayaks and in this aspect doubles also are safer from a risk/rescue standpoint.

Now, I have not seen what type of double they were actually paddling, but base the above on what a typical double seakayak configuration is with individual ckpts and bulkheads. If one of the combined ckpts with no bulkhds or minimal floatation, most comments above are less appropriate except one might still think that some initial stability is higher for their typical wider [tho' shorter]
body form and boxier cross-section.
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I appreciate your thoughts, Mick. From my perspective, getting your body partially out of the water and onto the kayak is a good strategy for prolonging survival in a very bad situation. It clearly saved the life of a kayaker off the Coast of Maine, as we explain in this video:
. However, that technique should not be considered a "self-rescue". In a successful rescue scenario, the double must be emptied of water and the paddlers must be back in the kayak, stable and with spray skirts attached. These paddlers were unable to accomplish this goal even with two doubles - although they tried with a paddle float. De-watering a double with a hand pump can be impossible in rough conditions. And the waves don't have to be that large if the cockpits are flooded and the freeboard is near the waterline.
 
"double must be emptied of water"

I guess it [rescue] is a matter of definition then as I originally stated . . . my definition is survival, yours is technique.

I guess mine is sorta on the line with 'a successful landing is one you walk away from'

**
edited = maybe the survival definition is too absolute, maybe replace with 'survival time extension'. I guess I'm more interested in what they could have done with the situation, gear and skill level they had.
for example, there they were, floating free [probably separately] from the boat, without thermal gear, possibly with sprayskirts, and pfd:

1) they had lifejackets = that's huge in comparison to without, so to me they did have one basic level of self preservation [ie self rescue]
2) what else could they [or we say] do in that lonely situation to extend survival time?
 
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mick_allen said:
"double must be emptied of water"

I guess it [rescue] is a matter of definition then as I originally stated . . . my definition is survival, yours is technique.

I guess mine is sorta on the line with 'a successful landing is one you walk away from'
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I don't think the aviation analogy holds. I suppose you could say that a "successful paddle" is one that you survive, but I don't find that particularly useful. There's also common usage in the kayaking community, where self-rescue and assisted rescue are clearly defined techniques. In that context, getting partly out of the water onto your kayak is not considered a "rescue". In cold water, it's also not survivable unless you can reach shore or someone comes along and fishes you out of the water. What that technique does is delay incapacitation and hypothermia - hopefully long enough for you to actually be "rescued". In Search and Rescue circles, an important distinction is made between "rescue" and "recovery", the latter being a non-survivable situation in which the victim's body is recovered. This may seem like nitpicking, but I've found that mushy definitions don't serve us well in outdoor safety.
 
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CPS said:
I guess it's not really a self-rescue if you still need someone to rescue you afterwards.
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As a practical matter, any rescue - whether solo or assisted - should end with the paddler(s) back in their boat(s) and paddling on their intended course, just as they were before the capsize. In a decked kayak, this means the cockpit has been emptied of water, the skirt attached, and any gear (like pumps or paddle floats) stowed away. The rougher the water, the harder this is to accomplish, which is why rescues should be practiced in whatever "conditions" a paddler might encounter.
 
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