A 49 year old paddler was found dead Saturday. He had taken his inflatable SUP out Friday at around 11 A.M. and did not come back.
He was wearing shorts and a tee shirt. The water temp was around 63F. His board was found first, under a dock. Then his body was found. That makes it sound like he had no leashes to keep them close.
It is a shame, but you have to do everything in your power to be safe. Too many things can happen on the water and few of those things are for the better. I have never been out on big water and have conditions stay the same for more than a few hours, and any change of conditions strains you.
I’ll add a little more when the authorities determine a cause of death.
This is nearby to me. He was in the lagoon/ICW, which is relatively wide at that point, but not open like the Gulf. It was pretty windy Saturday afternoon (Small Craft Exercise Caution was posted by the NWS) and sunny but not terribly warm.
Oddly the CG was searching in my marina that night as well. Im 25 miles from Dunedin and on the Tampa bay side so I doubt the searches were related. I don’t know what the story was or if they found someone.
There was a fatality this weekend in RI as well. Kayaker launched from Conimicut Point in Warwick, and his body was found across Narragansett Bay in Barrington. They were able to ping his phone to locate his body.
Conimicut Point is a beautiful spot with views up and down Narragansett Bay, but the current through that one-mile channel between Conimicut Point in Warwick and Nayatt Point in Barrington can be brutal. Add a wind from the south kicking up waves and it can be a challenging crossing – especially if you are not expecting it. There was a similar accident a few years ago with a kayaker launching from the same spot.
It wasn’t particularly warm this weekend – air temps in the high-30’s low-40’s, and windy. Water temp in Narragansett Bay is around 40 degrees now. We could have more bad news this weekend – air temp’s are forecast to get into the mid-50’s around here on Saturday and Sunday.
As a group, SUP paddlers seem to break the rules for winter paddling more than any other group. I see people paddling Lake Tahoe in winter in street clothes with no PFD. Wise up and stay alive.