Thanks for the update rival! So l guess Mike will be setting alarms in airports.
Tough guy that he made it as far as swimming out from that with busted ribs and head bumps.
Adrenaline, and he had too, but I thought the same.
I paddled with the guy who filmed this the next day and yeah it was a really interesting discussion. We did some rescue and towing practice and I realized my tow belt sucks and I don’t know how to tie a daisy chain ladder 
3 Likes
I was impressed by two things. The first was the lack of panic, the kayakers clearly knew what they were doing, either by training, practice or both. That was really nice to see.
Second, the concern was for Mike. Mike’s boat was an afterthought until another kayaker, who wasn’t needed in the rescue, caught and emptied it. That’s what I was taught in race track safety training, people first, gear last.
Get well soon Mike!
2 Likes
Hi NotThePainter. I’m going to respectfully question your second paragraph. Certainly not because I think you would make bad decisions. But it seems there are more inexperienced folks on this forum lately, and people or gear first is simply a judgment that needs to be made sea kayaking in open water windy conditions. I’m not speaking of the conditions in this video, but of the idea of people first, gear last being accepted as a general rule of sea kayaking.
The race track safety training may leave out some important considerations. People first, gear last becomes a complex issue in sea kayaking. The boat can rarely be an afterthought. Experienced sea kayakers, out of habit in a group like that, would see someone going after the person, and immediately, with the same sense of urgency, go after the kayak. The person that retrieved the kayak wasn’t demonstrating any less concern for Mike, nor of any less potential value to Mike, than the person who came directly to him.
Calm days are the exception where you might get away with ignoring the kayak for a bit. The tough question is if there are only two of you, and it’s windy. Getting to the person, but the boat blowing away, can and has proven fatal in extremely unfortunate instances.
No, if a person goes after the boat first, that does not display a lack of concern for the swimmer. Both actions are entirely focused on helping the swimmer. It’s simply a judgement call. My experience tells me that getting the boat first is probably almost always the best decision in open water. But it’s always a judgement call. In open windy conditions, my feeling is immediately paddle after the boat while observing the swimmer. Quickly pat the top of my head asking “Are you ok?” to see if I need to alter my response. If it’s windy, and there are 3 of you, and you see one go for the swimmer, and you hesitate even seconds to go and secure the boat, or you ignore the boat and also paddle to the swimmer, that’s potentially a critical error.
2 Likes
I am with @NotThePainter - the boat is something you only go after should resources and skills allow. Very common in rock gardening to take some risk to go in and get the swimmer, but you take less risks to get the gear.
I understand @CapeFear 's point, having the swimmer’s boat can be very important in the end. But consider the opposite, if the swimmer comes out and you leave them swimming to chase after the boat and while doing so, you also get slammed by a wave and become a swimmer also. Now you have 2 swimmers and no boats.
Expanding on CapeFear’s example conditions: if you are paddling with one other person off shore in windy conditions and the friend goes over and doesn’t hold onto their boat, that boat will blow away from the swimmer much faster than they can swim. Chances are you would go after the boat to bring back to the swimmer, rather than going straight to the swimmer. This is assuming that you have a way to transport a boat (most likely a tow line) and the swimmer is not injured and has appropriate clothing to last extra minutes in the water (wearing PFD and if water temps require, thermal protection).
Flips and swims in the areas like where this video show are not that uncommon, and the norm is the swimmer and boat get flushed out sooner or later and you T-rescue them and continue on.
Injuries in rock gardening are thankfully very rare. So if you can’t get a boat, there is always the emergency recovery of a swimmer called a back deck carry that gets the swimmer out of the water. I know of two times where this was reported being done over the years resulting in lost boats. In both cases the swimmer was fine.
That’s a great point that one may be inclined to take greater risks to go after a swimmer.
“But consider the opposite, if the swimmer comes out and you leave them swimming to chase after the boat and while doing so, you also get slammed by a wave and become a swimmer also. Now you have 2 swimmers and no boats.”
This is a great illustration of the complexity of it all. You go after the swimmer, and while doing so, you also get slammed by a wave and become a swimmer also. Now you still have 2 swimmers and no boats. In this scenario, it doesn’t really matter if you were after the swimmer or the boat. You, as a rescuer, have made an error and made the situation worse. If you get slammed by a wave going for a swimmer, have you made sure you won’t slam into the swimmer? If after the boat, have you made sure you won’t slam into the boat, or it into you? I think it was Gordon Brown that I initially remembered stressing the importance of making sure, first, that everyone not in trouble remains out of trouble.
But it can be like friends or family all jumping in beneath a low head dam to save one another. The idea that “I just can’t sit by and not act.”
Mike did a great job of getting himself out from between the rocks so that another kayak didn’t have to go in that zone to retrieve him.
I stand by the point I was trying to make, that in each different scenario, I just can’t make “person first” a rule, nor can I make “boat first” a rule.
1 Like
That’s a really good point. Race track safety rules do not apply to kayaking. Why not? In the race track, one the driver is out of the car the car is no longer considered safety equipment, in the water, it is safety equipment. I missed that.
1 Like
Hi - if you want to see the full debrief on 9/22/21 of this rescue it’s posted on the Southern Maine Sea Kayak Network website under “meetings” Kudos to all the paddlers involved for the calm and efficient rescue! Kudos also to SMSKN for their habit of posting these thorough Zoom meeting debriefs of incidents for us all to learn from. Kathryn, new user
https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipPmQJjUagQOD0zUEsfIy1-Gxhjm8HjJ4ulzPgIdP8rCHv2r4y-XlTfqGJN8j9tw3g?key=WXRyLXpEZ0QtYk5EZlp3M0dNVW93UXFjQUdIU0VR
2 Likes
Interesting footage….
Boat name “Dark Star”
I’ve had experience with open water rescues where a person has lost their boat. You never abandon a swimmer in the water to retrieve a boat. You would be amazed at how fast and far a boat can go in windy conditions. It also takes time to get hold of a loose boat, and even if you are wearing a tow belt, that takes time also, all while the boat moves further from the swimmer.
Then you have to find the swimmer. Any idea how hard it is to relocate just a head bobbing in the waves? This scenario has been documented in the past.
If you have other people with you, then by all means have someone retrieve the boat and any other loose gear. If not then tow the swimmer to safety or keep him with you and call for help. In the overall scheme of things, the boat is unimportant. It will likely wash up somewhere.
If leading a trip or otherwise think that it is prudent I will wear a tow belt. Even if paddling solo, I always at least have a tow belt bungeed on my rear deck within easy reach. I consider it a part of basic safety gear for open water paddling.
Kudos to his mates for the rescue. Pretty mild offshore day, the odd, larger swell rolls in, he gets caught inside and absolutely hammered. I really winced when those waves hit. This is a perfect example of the utility of VHF radios. They’re cheap insurance, and with the Coast Guard’s new Rescue 21 communications network, coverage is really good in coastal areas and the Great Lakes. Also a good example of why rescue practice is a great investment of any paddler’s time, and the value of paddling with experienced friends in case trouble arises.
I would say it’s all about situational awareness. I would agree that you don’t accidently abandon a swimmer. What does it mean to “abandon” a swimmer? Situation awareness will have you behaving in different ways in different conditions, under different circumstances, with different paddlers. If I can reasonably safely retrieve their boat within 10feet, 50 feet, 100 feet,…instead of calling the coast guard, does that make sense? It might and it might not. How cold will they get and how fast? What levels of risk do different scenarios present to the rescuer and other paddlers? Are we somewhat comfortable with one another’s ability to respond reasonably to each of our own situations - swimmer and rescuer? Are there any expectations of one another that might clue us in to degrees of health or helplessness? Do they have a whistle on their pfd that they have thought about and discussed blowing into while upwind from the rescuer? Do we have radios that the swimmer could use to direct the rescuer? Have we discussed our communication channel to be able to do that? Have we discussed a swimmer communicating with a rescuer who isn’t expected to risk seconds and capsize using their hands to fiddle with their own radio? I understand that it is distracting and difficult and potentially compromising when you’re in the middle of something challenging to have someone haling you on the radio, feeling as though you’re being pressed for a verbal response, being pressed to divide your attention even further. Could you not agree to say something like “Keep Paddling Paddler X - I’m straight ahead”, or “I’m 10 degrees to you left”, or “Keep paddling, I can’t see you, I’m going to blow my whistle” Something to actively assure them that they don’t need to occupy their hands and respond for this communication to work, and to assure them that you’re ok swimming. Do you have to keep your radio above water and give a solid blow into the microphone before it will transmit your voice clearly? Do we have our contact tows ready to go? Are we wearing our tow belts? Are we spaced and looking for one another often based on the potential for problems? Do we know what the currents are doing and how that will effect the situation? A person can go on and on, but paddling in rough-to-whomever conditions with people whom you care about and feel responsible for may cause you to be constantly contemplating these things. Good situational awareness allows you to make better calculated decisions. It’s good to have a prescribed response for moments of confusion, but I don’t think that should ever replace situational awareness. If never abandon means never go right after the boat while looking for an “I’m ok”, where the boat will get away quickly, and the boat getting away will be a difficult and risky situation, I believe there are just too many variables, and it becomes an ill-advised rule. Either decision could be the difference between a minor mishap and calamity.
If you are knowingly going out where windy conditions in open water are a potential, you should be prepared so that you lose no more than a couple of strokes attaching your tow line. You should have a pretty good idea of how fast and far a boat can go in the conditions. You should know how fast and far you can go in the conditions. You should be able to quickly recognize whether you’re closing distance between you and the kayak quickly, and you should be paying attention how far you’re getting from the swimmer. You should be paying attention to how often you can see the bottom of other’s kayaks against the water as you’re going along throughout the paddling day. I have discussed many times out on the water how difficult it could be to locate a bobbing head in the water should separation occur. I have thought about paying attention to the direction of travel in relation to wind and waves, so that I could do the opposite to bring the boat back. I have paddled around an inlet full of breaking waves searching for a head in the water. (We thankfully eventually found the person on shore, but didn’t know it at the time.) You should know what it means to make progress straight against the wind and waves with a kayak in tow. You should know if someone is chasing your kayak what you can do to help them put everything back in contact. You should all have an awareness of how difficult these things are if you are in these conditions. And if you are out in open water with an able-bodied person who signals they are ok, their boat is likely to or is blowing away, and you can confidently and safely retrieve it and bring it back to them, you really should do so. You should have an idea of how risky different alternatives are. I remember watching this horrifying video a few years ago (maybe here?) of a person in a kayak that got too close to a low head dam, and started getting pulled towards it. I watched the person stay all calm and easy-going trying to paddle away from it, as if it were nothing to worry about. They got pulled back and sucked under. This was an extreme example of someone not aware of the risk of the alternative to paddling like your life depended on it. I don’t want someone in cold open water, where they will be very difficult to locate even by rescue craft, thinking it’s ok to let a kayak get away as long as the swimmer is holding onto someone’s boat. If they’re likely to die of hypothermia out there, I want that to be a consideration. If there’s little to no risk of catching the kayak quickly within short distance of the swimmer, and little to no possibility of catching up with it if you ignore it for half a minute, I want everyone to be aware of that. Contemplate what it might mean for everyone to be out in open rough water, miles from shore or whatever your situation, and have a swimmer without a boat.
Look into a contact tow line for your deck if you don’t already have one. This can be exceptionally useful in this scenario, and especially scenarios with an incapacitated paddler.
Why it is a good idea to paddle in a group.
Do your paddling partners know how to rescue people?