There was a witness and the story is not what you think
She saw her husband drown about 15 minutes into the incident
They kept repeatedly gettin mg knocked off the boats by breaking waves.
Seems it was a wet drowning
But of course Monday morning quarterbacking makes us feel superior
Nearshore water temps are 63 . Sure that's cold enough to induce hypothermia with prolonged immersion
She may have lived as she was able to keep ahold of her kayak as it had a painter and haul herself partway on its bottom
MASKGI has a message
It seems this incident was a cascade of errors
so if they couldn't hang on to hull and get partially out of water their body temps would be lower than hers. Yes Monday morning QB but there were many mistakes on this trip, many. That is how people should learn by mistakes of others sadly. 63* water is real cold for full immersion with no protective gear even for 15 minutes for me even for 5. The guide sadly died from? Link up any more news you may have so we all can learn a lesson here not on the water. Thanks.
I see communications error.
Improper gear error.
Current or tides error.
Skills error.
Weather error although that is sometimes out of hands of the best forecast. That is why you bulk up on the others I listed. What was the forecast for that time period?
Good thing was a float plan and someone knowing they were late on return.
Total armchair quarterback With no real understanding of the situation.
Sounds like it turned into a complete nightmare of a washing machine without much warning. The guide was certified and competent with over 20 years experience and time paddling ww. If there was any chance of getting people back in their boats he would have done so quickly. Not sure immersion gear would have prevented a wet drowning. Perhaps a worn and activated PLB would have called in the cavalry in time to resuscitate the men, but who knows.
if the paddlers were experienced enough to get back in the kayaks even with an experienced guides aid especially under rough conditions.
After any accident or fatality in kayaking, construction, car racing, boat racing, or any other situation Monday morning QBing makes the next event less likely or at least should. That is how racing in many forms and construction has become safer.
WW is usually close to shore and condition can't change on the water as fast as an open ocean subjected more to wind and weather. The guide may have been fine by himself but as I usually hear you should be in a place or conditions where you can manage yourself alone. If I take friends with little or no experience out in a kayak it's small bay areas and canals. They also have a radio or their cell in a dry bag.
One summer day two years into my kayaking career I went in a small bay (Baldwin Bay Long Island NY) that is about 2-8 feet most you can stand in. Very hot day over 90 and water in the low 70's so I said screw the spray skirt. Squall hits and now instant white caps and some water coming in the kayak. No real danger but I never leave without a skirt any more. I had my wife with me also and I had to make sure she was ok in her eddyline Journey.
If you get too cold, you can use the ol' hypodermic on yourself.
because they were hypo and couldn't control there body movements, or had no PFD's? Yes that is what happens when you are hypodermic you drown. She was not hypodermic? Why does USCG mandate PFD's on boats smaller than 22' after Oct. because everyone on smaller boats can't swim? No because more likely to fall off and become hypothermic. Nay be gasp reflex drowned them? She may know more. Fact she was hypodermic and near death after 4.5 hours tells you what happen. God Bless them all it is sad but the ocean is a tough place.
For someone who is so sure of what caused the drowning, you don't even know the diff between thermic and dermic...
could have been me or any of you As some of you may recall, I was a Maine sea kayak guide from 2005–2009 when I left the state due to a job change. It sounds like the guide was very experienced and his clients were also. Although none were wearing dry or wet suits, that is not uncommon on summer kayak trips on the Maine coast. Although some guiding services offer farmer John wet suits, a lot of them don’t and usually you have to pay extra for the suit. I don’t know of any guiding outfits that require wearing a wet suit.
The guide did have a VHS but apparently in his drybag and wasn’t able to get to it or, if he did, he wasn’t able to contact anybody. Nobody had a PLB, but when I guided and kayaked in Maine, I didn’t know anybody who used them.
Also I know that the weather can change in a minute on the coast and often times, the change is not predicted. I remember a few years back when some friends and I paddled from Seal Cove on MDI to Pond Island–about 6-7 miles in the middle of Blue Hill bay–the weather was predicted to be sunny, with wind 5-10 knots out of the southwest. By the time we were halfway back, the wind had picked up to 20 knots–after being calm all morning–We all made it back without incident, but it turned out to be more of a struggle than any of us wanted.
The long time posters on this board think of themselves as skillful and careful paddlers. But what happened in Gouldsboro could have happened to any of us. This spring, after 16 years of sea kayaking and guiding without incident, I managed to dump my boat in heavy seas while paddling in the surf. The two guys I was with and myself managed to do a T-rescue and I got back in the boat–heavy surf would have made a paddle float rescue impossible and during all the excitement I forgot to duck and roll Fortunately, I was with two very experienced guys and less than 100 yards off the beach in very warm Gulf of Mexico water–air temps were about 85–water about 80–so no big deal but it taught me a lesson about my limits and being careful–
After I read the newspaper story about the tragedy in Gouldsboro, I purchased a PLB and plan to wear it. I always carry a VHF in my life jacket pocket and it is always on and tuned to Channel 16–I can use it without removing it from the pocket but who knows if anybody can hear you. The PLB is extra insurance. It costs about $250 but that is cheap when you consider what it might save.
One technique to practice When kayakers bail out they spend a lot of time trying to climb into the cockpit. IF the waves are big and breaking and the water is cold and there is wind it makes a more sense to climb up on the back deck on your belly and use your legs as out riggers to steady. If there is a constant direction to the wind or waves you can arm paddle like a paddle board or surfboard. Practice this is small surf, it’s not easy but it can get you out of trouble, to a more sheltered spot or out of the zone of breaking waves. Stow paddle in cockpit or lie on one blade on back deck.
Personally I always wear a wetsuit when the water is 52 F. Sorry but just because nobody else wants to pay for immersion protection, I think is a sorry commentary on outfitters.
wetsuit is certainly better than nothing but to avoid hypothermia for any length of time you should have a dry suit. Those kayakers were in the water for 4 hours if I read the article correctly-a farmer john style wet suit really wouldn't do the trick for that long but then most folks in Maine in the summer use neither a wet suit or a dry suit--
to shore ASAP...
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...Why does USCG mandate PFD's on boats smaller than 22' after Oct. because everyone on smaller boats can't swim?
I apologize if I missed where it states that they were in legitimate touring kayaks.
Assuming they were the small, cheaply designed "Recreational" boats...they are inherently unstable for anything but calm weather lillydipping...with ANY degree of paddling experience...and paddling in cotton, without PFDs, where they couldn't reach shore..y/n? ..certainly sounds like they were too far from shore for their experience, particularly if they'd never rehearsed a wet exit routine, or had taken it seriously.
My takeaway Accidents are a combination of mistakes
People here (I am down the road from the outfitter. Which is shuttered are baffled why the storm was not noticed and why the radio or a PLB was not on the guide
I’m wearing my PLB but till yesterday my radio was in my dry bag
No more
All that saved anyone was the wife at home
Of course dry suits with insulation might have helped but with the prevailing currents they were headed out to sea
Ironically it’s been a gorgeous weekend here but I feel awkward driving by the outfitters house a couple of times a day with bunches of cars there
We planned a month ago to visit this area new to us
recent experience Just a few days ago, I was paddling by myself and in no way prepared for what came along, except that I was in position to make it to shore quickly if need be. I think that one thing saved me from what might have been pretty bad.
I was watching this particular cloud formation and decided it looked a little too ominous to ignore, so I headed in to get closer to shore. When this thing hit, it was very sudden and was packing winds that had I been further out, I don’t think I could have made it to shore. I did make it to shore and rode out the squall with the only concern of keeping my kayak from being blown away.
While I credit myself for being aware and cautious, I was exposed just enough to this force of nature to realize that there would have been no way to maintain control of anything if I had been unable to get to shore. Judgement and experience is everything.
You can, many others cannot I respect your own experience in immersion dressing, but it seems at times you don’t go the other way. 50 degrees and even multiple layers of neoprene is not enough for some of us, I tried it for quite a while and finally found that dry suit was my only option. Happily my tests were in local ponds and rivers near shore, when I was first learning to roll. Off shore or in the ocean would have been a bad testing environment.
There are two guys in our local paddling group who can happily go into awfully chilly stuff in neo, not even the fancier surfing suits. It is great they can do that. Neither of them tells others they can do it just because they can.
Weather Radios? A few years ago three of us were fishing in the Everglades with our VHFs on. A sudden squall rolled in from the west unannounced as the weather station we were monitoring was to our east. We found shelter but the warning didn’t get broadcast until the storm had passed us.
You are assuming all wrong Unfortunately Paddledog52 is busier talking about his critique than actual circumstances. And apparently he did not know until this event about the requirements for guiding in Maine, which requires that the guide be certified in a program that has been around for at least a couple of decades.
The two clients were in sea kayaks with skirts, as was the Registered Maine Guide leading the tour. This particular guide was fairly cautious, he was willing to and did cancel trips on a questionable weather report. Nearly a decade of experience as a certified Guide, lots of kayaking before that.
The squall that hit them was not forecast at all, came up very very quickly and caught this group in a bad spot in terms of tide (outgoing) etc. Other groups were on the water but had the luck to be more favorably located when it hit, so this was the only news story from the day.
As with all Monday morning quarterbacking, there are points of preparation that can be pointed to that might have altered the outcome. If there is a disaster of any sort where you can’t find that, please point me to it. I’ve never seen it.
Regardless, this trip was neither badly led nor foolhardy in their usual sense we see on this boat - the boats were fine, there was a skilled paddler along who could have handled a broad range of problems on the water, and the launch decision was made on a favorable forecast.
But sometimes Ma Nature has a bigger bomb out there.