We all talk about rolling but has anyone ever been dumped out of their yak and not able to retrieve their yak? I never hear this mentioned but it could happen. FishHawk
Got sucked out of my Falcon
In large surf and could not swim against the current to get it. I watched it get smashed up on the rocks of a jetty.
Oh Yeah
Did it a couple years ago on the White Oak. Fellow paddler got pinned against a downed tree in fast water. I paddled over to help her and got pushed against her from the up current side. Needless to say I got rolled under her and dumped. Next thing I knew the Otter was going downstream lickity-split and I was hanging on to my friend’s 'yak for dear life. Finally got her 'yak dislodged and found mine about 1/2 mile downstream sans lunch and a few other items.
Learned important lessons from this episode:
a. Remember the speed of the current and never ever approach from up current no matter how loud they are hollering “help.”
b. Keep your PFD zipped/clipped up. Didn’t have mine zipped up (hot day) and when I hit the water it was flapping all over the place. Ever try staying afloat and zip up a PFD in a fast current? Don’t work!
Stay safe on the water,
Cal
Georgia to France
My favorite story of someone losing their boat was off Georgia. It showed up on the other side of the Atlantic having been carried by the dominant clockwise current. It was an NDK Explorer and word was that the boat was fine and compartments dry. The owner had left his I.D. in the boat so got a call from across the sea when it was found.
It is wise to have your contact info in your boat. I have laser printed labels with full contact info adhered inside the fore and aft compartments of my boats.
It happens
In breaking surf to me, in high winds to someone else because the current and wind separated a paddler from their boat very quickly. A dislocated shoulder will make it harder for anyone to hang onto their boat, especially in conditions.
Important To Report It…
…if you do lose one, PLEASE report it ASAP. Off the Newfoundland coast last season, there were several false alarms that triggered large-scale searches when 'yaks were found afloat but empty. Turned out they’d simply drifted off beaches - the owners reckoned they’d lost the boat for good, and since there was no emergency, didn’t want to disturb the Coast Guard…
Almost lost mine
It can happen when you least expect it. I had put a coat of Starbright boat polish on my $3200 kevlar boat and sat it out in the back yard (behind my townhouse) so the polish could dry. I was relaxing in the sun on my back porch…feet up…eyes closed…when I hear this sound that resembled the “snapping” of a bungee cord on the deck. I looked up to see this 5-6yr. old kid trying to pull my kayak for all he’s worth!!! “DROP IT PUNK!” The kid went tearing off through the townhouses. I hunted him down (saw him looking out of his bedroom window-very scared) and found out (from his mom) that two older kids put him up to it. I was thinking about offering to take the little lad paddling…maybe dropping him off at an abandoned lighthouse on the Chesapeake 
I got a boat back that way
I got knocked out of my surfski by a wave that broke outside of everything else and the wind took the boat away. Swam in, called the USCG to let them know the boat was out there and I wasn’t, and got a call back 2-3 hours later to let me know that a fishing boat had picked up my ski five miles offshore.
I keep losing mine in…
my garage. Ever since I started building, my kayaks (completed/in process)seem to dissappear under tarps/tools/shavings…etc…so far I have been lucky out on the water. Will be careful to put my name/email/tel #…thanks for the tips…
Bob
Hey liv2padl
Post your story.Lots of new folks here don’t know it. Best lost and found story ever.
Loose it?
Like, set it loose to roam the high seas?
I hope you didn’t mean “LOSE IT” like letting it get away from you.
What is it with all the people spelling loose and loosing when they mean lose and losing?!
A pet peave of mine and yes, I am a grouch. So there.
Oh, man, was it totalled?
One Time Only
Put in on the Blackwater River to pole upstream on a howling windy late Oct day. Came back with my gear to see my canoe racing down the river in the wind. There was the painter firmly tied to the tree, the other end plunked down in the river.
Like a idijot I raced down the shoreline and of course the canoe is now on the other side of the river going downstream at a good clip. Oh well, I got spare cloths in my drybag so in I go. About 50’ later I catch it, crawl onto shore and hoof it back with the other painter carefully tied off. Taught me a great lesson, check all knots before launching your boat, hasn’t happened since.
dougd
flatwater
Well, I flatwater kayak so I think as long as I loop my arm in my ULTRA-VALUEBLE KAYAK cockpit it’ll be fine.
Almost…
One of my sons and I were paddling from Narragansett, R.I. out to Whale Rock, in the middle of lower Narragansett Bay. We decided to get out of the kayaks to explore the rock, so I tied the kayaks together, and to an anchor. Whale Rock has the foundation of an old lighthouse (that was destroyed by the 1938 hurricaine), and we decided to walk around this foundation. Upon arriving back where the kayaks were left, we saw that they were gone…looking up the bay, I saw that they were being carried away by the current! I did my best Tarzan-style run-and-dive, and managed to retrieve them. What I figured had happened was that my anchor line was too short, and with an incoming surge, the anchor was no longer touching bottom.
Tony
It was in pieces when I got to it
At least I was able to get my drybag with my wallet and keys out. One of those waves through me against the jetty and my PFD took the brunt of the impact.
Fellow Grouch
Hi David,
Just so you know, you’re not alone in suffering that particualr pet peeve. Bugs the heck out of me, too.
Rob
“Smashed” or recoverable?
As a Falcon owner, curious on the level of damage associated to your Falcon went separated from it against the shoreline (rocks)? What mod did you have? Fiberglass, Modulas, Carbonlite? Thanks, Mark
It was foam light
– Last Updated: Feb-23-06 8:44 PM EST –
a very light lay up of fiberglass they used on their older boats. It was demolished by the waves pushing it against the rocks within 2-3 minutes.
Some Indians loosed mine.
My first canoe trip was with a group of my brother’s AFROTC buddies and their babes. We pulled up for lunch on a sunny slope above a bank of the Rifle River, but two of the guys lagged way behind. While we were eating, they put on warpaint and feathers and floated quietly in to where all the canoes were. They pushed about five of the rental canoes downstream before we noticed. I ran along the bank and jumped in to catch my canoe just around the bend. They had also thrown the paddles into the water, so we were paddling by hand until finding them along the banks for about a mile.
CedarEater