In my incident I was wearing my PFD. I went under and popped up.
Mostly I have paddled moving water and have plenty of immersion stories. I remember paddling one fine spring day at the Univ of Washington. We had a group with rental canoes. My youngest brother and a close friend capsized in calm water. It was April and Lake Washington was maybe in the high 50s. We had some trouble getting them to shore because the water temp immobilized them.
There have been many times paddling in the wind with loaded boats that I feared capsizing when leading groups. I can’t think of any mishaps, just tense moments.
I got dumped once on flat water by part of a submerged tree I didn’t see because I was looking the other way. I’ve also dumped on flat water when trying to exit onto a slippery dock, and once on a rocky landing.
I am not hardcore enough to gear up for winter paddling. The coldest water I’ve paddled on is probably around 50F with a wet suit. I don’t do that regularly.
The thing I fear the most is autonomous gasping in response to cold shock and inhaling a lung full of cold water.
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Adding alcohol to the equation invites unintentional immersion.
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Much of it depends on the boat. New kayakers often look for the best all around boat - there is no such thing. A boat that’s ideal for speed might not be ideal for touring with gear in rough conditions. One that’s playful in surf may not track well on a flat lake. A Swede form hull will cut through wave and maintain a speed advantage while a a Symmetric hull will climb over waves and plunge into the troughs, which causes the boat to wallow between peaks. The solution to that is to simply slow down. A narrow rounded chine might help you better hold an edge on a curling wave, while a wide stable boat might flip. However, if you rarely face curling waves, a multi-chine wide boat will be more stable and desireable if you paddle mostly flat water.
My paddling trips often coincided with another paddler, and we occasionally arrived at the launch around the same time. It was pleasant to paddle with him because our speed was closely matched. He typically paddled an light blue CD kayak, then the following year he had a red one. I can’t recall the models, but I asled what happened to his other kayak, because I remember him saying it was stable and that he liked it. He told me he got tired of it rolling on him. The new boat better served his purposes. That didn’t necessary reflect negatively on his skills or the boat. He simply found a boat that better fit his expectations. I have to admit that never falling out of my boat has more to do with the exceptional primary stability of my boat than my boat handling skill.
I installed a forward bulkhead in my 140 Pungo and paddled a 21.5 mile trip across the Upper Chesapeake Bay on multiple trips in fair weather, and also paddled it in a 125 Tsunami. I eventually bought the 145 Tsunami and ultimately the 175 model, because they’re better options for harsh weather conditions.
The key to safe paddling is to recognize what you can handle in the boat you’re paddling, and know how terrain, waterway constriction, and channel depths influence conditions. For example, there are certain passages in seemingly protected area that are typically more turbulent than open water. On one trip, I took a shortcut through the mainland and an island. The wave action was more than double the open water channel. Once I rounded a point, there was an anchored power boat with a couple in floating lawn chairs on flat water. Know what you and your boat can handle, and either turn around or go to ground and land. Although I know paddlers who use Tsunamis in the ocean, I won’t paddle there because I don’t feel I have the skill. I believe it’s about knowing your limitations, as well as your ability to recover safely.
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Never had it happen on flat still water in 50 years and 1000s of miles. Last dump was when I got caught under a tree on a river. Link: https://forums.paddling.com/t/wet-suit-for-45-fahrenheit-kayaking/104758/12
My only time was a few weeks ago. I was getting into my kayak, got distracted and unbalanced, and dumped. I got drenched, my cockpit filled with water, and I was mortified.
On the plus side, it was an easy re-entry after I untangled myself from the chaos.
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Paddling with a tall non-paddler friend in a tandem canoe. He overreacted after causing the boat to lean more than he was comfortable with. I once ducked under branches at speed and ran up on the tree trunk in such a way that I capsized. I once capsized on perfectly flat water returning the smile of a pretty girl - during an assessment course! Yes, there are things that can make you forget where you’re at and what you’re doing momentarily.
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I was paddling in shallow water in a narrow creek and decided to duck down under a tree that crossed. I found myself upside down in a flash having become unbalanced by a submerged part of the tree. A drysuit is the way to go once the water is below 78 degrees. Under 70 degrees should be treated with caution, and 50 to 60 degrees can be life threatening. Drysuits rule!
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Yup too many to count
But in any kind of action sport or activity, if you don’t push to the point of failure you don’t get much better very fast, and you also do not truly know where your limits are. And by going to that point you can push the limits back and back and become more skilled
So when I got into kayaking I started out by learning wet exist and reentries and soon thereafter started to teach myself to roll. By far, most of my early rolling attempts were just an exercise in wet exits and reentries (again)
It have never felt any pain in my swims or my capsizes either self induced or when I was taken by surprise. So I have no fear of it. In my younger years I have been a US Marine, and later an instructor for the DOD, along with doing as lot of ice and rock climbing sky diving and competitive marshal arts. I have been punched and kicked a lot and I have fallen a lot, and I have shown the rock-rash, cuts, bruises, a few surgeries to try to repair broken bones. I got busted up once in a parachute fall when I landed in the top of a whirlwind and it sucked up and barber-poled my canopy and I fell out of the sky from about 40 feet up.
So the “fear” of swimming when I am in a wet suit and wearing a PFD simply doesn’t exist. I edge my kayak as much as I can and I know how much that is now because if I take it past that point I roll or swim. I know what my limits are in waves and chop because when I go just a tiny bit farther I roll or swim. And several times per season I simply edge of lean farther and farther with the intention to see what I can do, before I roll or swim.
My attempts to roll are not always successful, but swimming is painless. So I don’t understand the fear of pushing the limits in a kayak especially if I am not alone. If you are not failing you are not really trying.
Almost ran me over and wake flipped my 18-10" sea kayak my brace meant nothing. He wasn’t even looking. I was waving the paddle when he was way off. I just had a feeling it was coming.
Kayak picture was actually right after I got to shore. I just swam with the kayak in tow it took two or three minutes.
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You’ve had several close encounters. Never saw that type of idiocy around here. Big boat don’t slow down when passing nearby, but give wide enough berth. You need a flare gun so you can fire it into the windshield.
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@Kevburg - before I realized where your linked ‘21 story was going, I saw the Epic pulled up on snow and I shuddered to see a narrow kayak in icy conditions - I never imagined that anyone would paddle a 20" kayak in ice (or an 18’ kayak through ILSRA). My kayaks are 37" wide rotomolded polyethylene, so at least I have that going for me in the cold.
–Correction - 25" and 25.75" wide (Oops!)–
RPG would be more effective.
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If you can find one. I’d definitely fire a flare into the cockpit and hope it bounced off or implanted into the driver’s chest.
@RiverWay, I usually paddle my 14’ 70’s kayak upstream as it is better at threading past trees. It has a 24" beam compared to the Epic’s 22" and it lacks bulkheads.
I’ve paddled wider kayaks only twice in my life, and on both occasions I kept thinking “How do you make this thing go?”
I have no idea how hard it is to transition from wide to narrow if you get used to wide first, but going fast is worth the learning curve. You see more and the added range gives you more trip options.
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wow, paddledog. Scary. I don’t know if there is a thread for close encounters, but it would be interesting to read.
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Dang.
Too bad you didn’t have a handy fistful of rocks to throw into the windshield. I’ll bet he’d notice those.
Glad you came through that experience OK
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Powerboats can be a menace. If a boat is coming at you, does that mean they don’t see you? If you are operating a power boat and you want to come up to a kayak, canoe or sailboat, fall off 10 degrees so they know you are not trying to kill them.
Carry an air horn around power boats. It saved me once while sitting in my ski boat dead in the water. A power boat would cut my boat in half without the air horn.
Wear bright colors. Paddle brightly colored boats. Yellow shows up best at sea so I painted the deck of my Pygmy Coho yellow. I had a big OT Guide 18 and kept the canvas bright white.
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I had a snake fall out of a tree, just ahead of my cockpit, which kind of threw me into the water with the snake.
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