I have been surprised to have read few incidents the beginning of this season involving paddle craft and cold water. I wonder if this is because the weather shifted quickly from stupidly cold to brutally hot. Water temperatures have been higher that I have expected most times I’ve gone out.
Here’s one I don’t get though. It’s lacking in details, so I encourage creative speculation.
Pure speculation yes… My guess is that she got pinned by current against the dock supports and could not get herself oriented to exit the boat. If it was the first time she ever capsized… Story says the water grabbed her when she launched.
By the way, one in Lake George in NY state yesterday. Water in the high 50’s still, tourists in likely rec boats taken out from the motel, boat wake and PFD not being worn. Motel is saying they urged use of a PFD. Wonder if they are going to reconsider making kayaks available.
@Sparky961 said:
I have been surprised to have read few incidents the beginning of this season involving paddle craft and cold water. I wonder if this is because the weather shifted quickly from stupidly cold to brutally hot. Water temperatures have been higher that I have expected most times I’ve gone out.
In my area there’s been a barrage of newscast PSAs about the dangers of cold water. Even the National Weather Service has been posting warnings. Wish they would do the same for wearing a PFD.
I can think of lots of scenarios but can only speculate that the current was too strong to launch safely from that site.
The part I’m having trouble with hinges on my own speculation that a recreational kayak was the type of boat. And if this is the case, how the heck does one get stuck inside? Most cockpits are so vast that the occupant just falls out. I doubt that a spray skirt was in use because I rarely see anyone else using one. Definitely not a common site on a river. But maybe that’s the most likely answer, as otherwise she wouldn’t have been stuck.
Sparky, reread the part “when it flipped over and got swept away to a nearby dock”. Before changing my personal rules on this, I was occassionally out with people having a truly morbid fear of capsize. If the boat was pinned for even a little bit, and maybe in shallow water under a dock, may have panicked and swallowed water without exiting.
Lack of personal mobility could have been an issue. An obese person having poor fitness and limited mobility could end up pinned inside the boat in a situation where to do so would seem an impossibility for someone who’s at worst, reasonably mobile. Adjacent obstacles and current, especially current forcing the boat into place could have played a role. In this country, the idea that she was too big and immobile to be safe in that situation is not unlikely. Same goes for the idea that it was unsafe to launch from that location. Clearly it was unsafe for her, but even on mild rivers there are often innumerable places where “just another dead tree in the water” ends up claiming someone’s boat and potentially doing worse.
If the current was strong enough, it is conceivable that the kayak could have folded against an obstacle entrapping her legs. This could occur even with a large cockpit opening.
More than a few whitewater kayakers have died in this manner.
I suspect not really much current. I looked at the map of Orillia, Ontario and it is on a large lake. I don’t see any rivers in area, and it seems to be a pretty flat terrain, so even if there were rivers, not likely moving much. Plus the picture they show of a (presumed) rescue boat is a power boat made for lakes. So maybe the “swept away” was due to wind?
My best guess would be she flipped over and the initial cold water immersion shock got her. Or she had another medical issue (heart attack or the like) that caused her to flip and prevented her from wet exiting.
From the article, “…They found the woman stuck in the kayak beneath the water and the surface…….” huh? Beneath the water and the surface…of………the earth?
Aside from English usage perhaps the kayak was upside down, in shallow water, and the woman was stuck in the mud. I can tell you a capsize face plant in shallow water at my bulkhead, sitting in my sea kayak was at first difficult to get out of. If I was a screamer and inexperienced it could have been dangerous.
People can definitely have panic attacks when capsized in a decked boat. At one spring clinic, a couple of us were working with a fellow trying to learn to roll. This was in shallow water near the shore of a small pond. This student had previously demonstrated his ability to wet exit, and had also at least attempted some bow rescues in a swimming pool.
But on this occasion on his first roll attempt he freaked out. He made no attempts to exit the boat and multiple attempts to roll his kayak up were initially unsuccessful because he had jammed one blade of his paddle into the soft bottom of the pond and was holding onto it with both hands in a death grip.
There are certainly rivers in the area but few around there that would be obviously dangerous for kayaking at this point in the season.
If nothing else, it’s a reminder of how short and fragile life is.
We had a woman on on club trip once who flipped on a strainer. She passed through fine, and I kept waiting for her to come out of her boat, but she never did. Finally waded out to flip her over, and she was holding on to the combing to stay in the boat. She said that she just froze and never even thought about trying to get out of the boat. Can’t imagine that she would have stayed there until she drowned, but who knows…