This story is horrible.
Saw that. Itâll take awhile to recover esp. at his age but he and his rescuers will have a story to tell. IF he makes it.
This kind of brings up another thing to watch for:
Falling
60s is still âyoung-ishâ, however, being in an âriskyâ environment, the danger is compounded.
Recently Iâve been hearing more and more stories of older folk (70s and up) falling and either getting seriously injured - or worse.
I think the âmindâ still has you living as a middle-ager, where the body may be acting âyour ageâ.
Be careful out there!
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Always in the back of my mind when I am backpacking and flyfishing in remote areas. I have never gotten stuck in rocks while WW kayaking (float feet first rather than walk your way to shore). However, I have had my feet gotten wedged in between rocks and boulders while wading for trout. Nothing that I havenât been able to extricate from. The last 10 years, I have always had a wading staff and an inflatable PFD on as part of my flyfishing gear. Have also given up on using waders in favor of (form fitting) neoprene pants/tights. My gear is kept to a minimal and stored in a sling pack with quick release buckle rather than old flyfishing vest (aka fishing chest anchor).
-sing
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As Raisins sail Falling⌠Back in 2013 at almost 63 on a hot day I was standing at the boat ramp after a paddle with gear in my hand getting ready to take it up to the car. I then slipped on some slippery stuff fell and broke my left wrist badly. Heat, pain, shock I couldnât get up. They called 911. It got me to the ER and later the OR. Weâve paddled places sense that would have been longer waits and more difficult since cell phones donât always work.
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Just a reminderâŚ
Lot of âelderly injuriesâ in the news recently.
Fashion brand Mangoâs billionaire founder, Isak Andic, has died in a hiking accident in Spain, the company said. The 71-year-old slipped and fell from a 150-foot-high cliff Saturday (todays msn news)
McConnell falls and sprains wrist after GOP luncheon
Nancy Pelosi undergoes hip replacement surgery after fall in Luxembourg
Hereâs a Christmas present: be extra careful getting around (use that hand rail, even if you think you donât need it).
The present? Well, if you heed the advise, you will enter the new year without crutches (or worse), ready for the new paddling year.
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I look goofy but I take my daily morning walk with these. But, itâs saved me from a couple falls with wet or snowy sidewalks. Never hurts to play it safe.
-sing
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I just bought a pair yesterday. Figured they, along with my YakTraxs, would be helpful in staying upright on snowy, icy land.
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Various pole tips are available for different terrain. On ice, the metal tip alone would do better.
BTW, I find the poles are great for staving off the occaisonal aggressive âwild urbanâ turkey that are increasingly roaming my neighborhood.
-sing
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I have been using hiking poles for many years now. I also use one when wading while fishing.
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I am a slow learner. Canât tell you how many times I slipped and took a tumble down a big river flyfishing. Being âembarassedâ was not a problem since usually there are no one else around. Of course, it would have been worse to have had someone find my dead body washed up somewhere downstream. (One of my early flyfishing âherosâ died that way: http://kenmiyata.com/). Instead, I have lost a lot of gear. I didnât start using a wading staff until I started using trekking poles when backpacking in my later years.
Still learning.
-sing
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In retrospect, I did replace my rubber boot waders with a neoprene stocking foot wader, after Miyataâs death, when neo waders first came out in the early-mid 80âs. I brought a slim fitting Simms neoprene wader that had to be rolled on over a base layer, like todayâs surfing wetsuits. On the occaisons that I fell in, the neoprene waders took on very little water, was streamlined and allowed me to get my footing back quicker. Even with water inside, It also kept me warm, even in the colder shoulder seasons.
For similar reasons today, I much more trust my life to my surfing wetsuits when surf paddling than I do with my drysuits. I can swim (and âduckdiveâ) in the surf zone, when needed, much more easily than with a baggy drysuit.
Guess I did learn something. 
-sing
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At a very low tide I have trouble landing (at my daily spot), I sure could use a 3rd hand for using one of those poles.
On an extra low tide I have to get out into a âquicksandâ like mud. So, I sink several inches, then have to pick up the kayak, then sink some more.
Then I have to balance the kayak while lifting and placing one foot after the other until I reach âsolidâ ground (not too far, just tricky). I did fall once, got very muddy and wet, but not much more - and it was summer so I didnât freeze.
Knowing the tides & when I will be landing, on these occasions I use one of the 2 lightest kayaks I have (30lb Petrel Play, 29lb Sterling Ice Kap)
Itâs either a figment of my imagination or my spotty recall, but I thought I read somewhere of a kayaker that got stuck on a mudflat (in place with big tidal swings) and either nearly dying or actually dying as result, from exposure.
I am learning that I still have boat envy⌠(Thankfully, I am out of storage spaceâŚ)
-sing
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Here it wasnât a kayaker, but a woman making a bad decision and walking out and getting stuck at low tide. Rumor was mental health issues temp or terminate unknown. The tide was coming in. The Jacksonville Fire Dept didnât have anything at the time that could get out that far. Stuck up to waist high the woman drowned before they could get a boat in the shallows. The FD bought a mud boat to provide that skim the mud capability. I think it was twenty years ago.
Airboats canât take the open water swells.
I am leery of paddling in marshy estuaries because of the mucky/muddy bottom. Way back when, I used to flyfish for âsea runâ brook trout down In Cape Cod because it was a closer drive then going up to the White Mountains. Tough fishing because of the fish but also because of the estuary mud. Found myself knee deep in mud after stepping off a grassy bank. It can be a struggle to get free⌠(thoâ never occurred to me the possible danger of getting stuck.)
-sing
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