Safety Scenario

April-May 2005

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.
To download a pdf copy of the magazine click here: > DOWNLOAD

by Andree Hurley

Kayaking is all the rage these days so you find a used kayak through an ad in the newspaper. Excited to start paddling, you notice it’s a beautiful evening with flat, calm water. You throw the kayak onto your vehicle and head for the beach.

The paddling is great and the lighthouse in the distance is appealing, so you decide to paddle around the point to check out the sunset.

Once it begins to get darker, you decide to return to the car, only it’s hard to get back around the point. You hadn’t figured on the current which is practically invisible to the untrained eye.

You are paddling hard to round the point but not making any headway, when somehow you flip over.

The current carries you to a tide rip in the channel, and you realize that without appropriate clothes and your personal floatation device (PFD), you might not survive for long. After all, the water is about 45°F. You wave your paddle frantically for help and hug an inflated float bag that has exited your kayak.

Luckily for you, someone calls for a rescue and soon you are in an ambulance, heading for the hospital, with only mild hypothermia.

The next evening you are warm and dry and look out over the water. You see that the entire channel is covered by a thick cover of fog. The ships are moving slowly and blaring their deep fog horns. What if you had been out tonight instead of last night?

This story is truer than one might think, so how do we get the word out to new paddlers that paddling is fun but also takes caution and expertise?

HERE ARE A FEW GUIDELINES

• Take a lesson. Wear your PFD. Don’t leave it in the car, in the boat or on the deck. Think of it like you think of a seatbelt—always use it!

• Pay attention to local conditions—think of the what-ifs.

• Learn to use and have handy a paddle float self-rescue device, bilge pump, sponge.

• Dress for the water—wear wool, synthetics, neoprene, nylon or gortex shells, or a drysuit. If you get too hot, just splash yourself!

• If you are the expert, teach your friends all the elements of safety. Think of passing on information like the game of telephone—something will be lost along the path of communication, so make sure you pass on the main points of safety.

• Finally, file a float plan, or at least tell someone where you are going, and leave a note on your car.

See www.uscg.mil/d14/units/msohono/seakayak.htm for another kayaking scenario posted by the Coast Guard. Paddle safely and help spread the word!

© Andree Hurley Andree is a certified instructor/trainer with the American Canoe Association (www.acanet.org) for coastal and whitewater kayaking. She is also an EMT and the owner of Kayak Instruction Excellence in Port Townsend, WA: www.onwatersports.com.