The One Fatality I Know Of Here
Of all the people on this board, I only know of one fatality.
That was Walt and in my opinion, it was probably caused by not checking the river gauge
In Maine
The top ways to die kayaking on the ocean in Maine are all a combination of the following:
- Insufficient awareness of current weather conditions.
- Not dressed for immersion.
- Haven’t been exposed to any training, so they don’t know what they don’t know. (Rescues, navigation, reading the water, appropriate boat design, etc)
Generally a few die every year in our immediate area, and it’s sad to see it happen in such a similar way each time.
Hypotheremia
Or more simply, not being prepared for immersion. Yeah, it isn’t flashy, but it is a major cause of death. Of course, before you die of hypothermia, you have to have had a system of failures which put you into those conditions. The following non-complete list might be the most significant of those failures:
- failure to judge whether one can handle current conditions and/or judge when to get off the water when those conditions changed
- failure to have sufficient, well practiced, reliable, skills which were required by current conditions (that is, I could do this last year…)
- failure to provide sufficient planning, location, contact information should an incident occur
The coast guard chart is really interesting in that the biggest spike in deaths is in the 50-59 range, though there are more injuries in younger age groups. This makes one suspect that lapsed skills or performance based upon decreased health could be a contributor (or perhaps people in the 50-59 range suddenly take up kayaking).
Also, most incidents occurred in “Hazardous Waters,” though I’m not certain what constitutes hazardous. A case can be made that cold water is, by nature, hazardous, so a calm day in Monterey Bay might qualify.
Rick
Paddle under the influence…
not sure
It seems they would be the same ways one would kill themselves on land. Gun, OD, jumping would be possible, but admittedly a little different. Hanging oneself would be really tricky.
Ryan L.
Abandoning
your own judgement when paddling with others from insecurity, neglect arising from the belief they know what they are doing and are doing it, bravado, or any other reason.
strainers and terminal holes NM
My Own Top Ten…
#1 Don’t dress for cold water immersion. “It’ll be okay.”
#2 Don’t practice rescues, either self- or assisted, or just plain don’t know how to rescue or roll in the first place.
#3 Don’t wear a PFD at all times.
#4 Get caught by surprise by big weather/big seas.
#5 Be out of condition/out of shape. Be a poor swimmer on top of it.
#6 Use a boat that’s completely inappropriate for the conditions (small single bulkhead rec kayak on the ocean, etc)
#7 Have a poor attitude, i.e. don’t listen to advice, refuse to process new information, ignore any info that doesn’t conform to your previously-held notions, have a “I can handle ANYTHING” macho/mach-ette attitude.
#8 Fail to carry signaling and communication gear (VHF, flares, etc)
#9 Be ignorant of navigation and navigational hazards (large boat traffic, reefs, rocks, very strong currents/tides, etc)
#10 Not only not know what you’re doing, but also paddle with OTHERS who don’t know what they’re doing, thus multiplying the chance of problems.
Decent list?
Great List
Really great list and ideas from everyone,
I’d also like to add that one must make sure to wear clothing that is guaranteed to snag on something in the kayak thereby making any wet exit impossible in a capsize.
Off shore wind
Almost all the other “ways” to kill requires more than one condition:
- not dress for immersion: need to capsize first
- no pfd: same, need to capsize first
- no bulkhead: Need wind coming up or a big powerful boat making big wake to swamp the boat
…
With off shore wind, it’s a slow death. Maybe they’ll find the body in England!
Too Vague
I’ve been trying for year to kill myself by not taking lessons and it hasn’t worked at all. be a little more specific please!
I have been rock climbing for over 10 years without lessons and I can’t manage to kill myself that way either.
Maybe you meant “Be have an IQ of 83”, or maybe “Don’t take lessons then paddle around Australia in a 9 foot kids boat dragging a dead cow in the water behind behind you.”
Just “Don’t take lessons” is just not going to cut it.
Dave
Very decent list - well thought out . .
To which I would add the universal one:
Not knowing or respecting your limitations.
Probably not . . .
You said: “Maybe they’ll find the body in England!”
Probably not - the body would be eaten by numerous large and tiny fish. What a vainglorious ending - to be pooped out in hundreds of tiny fish pellets and consumed again by crustaceans! Kinda like cremation, only wetter and slower . . . cheaper too. Really green, though.
Well, let’s not forget
DuluthMoose and JohnC98… but in one case we don’t even know if he was paddling, and the other was a heart attack that perhaps would have happened anywhere.
Both Walt and DuluthMoose were in a)cold water, and b)paddling alone. I sure don’t think either of those things, by themselves or even in combination, would qualify for the purposes of this thread as reliable means of killing oneself while paddling, though.
Water Advice
Not to say we’re not doing the right thing by doing these listings as this is a great thread, but I want to add a positive note.
Kayaking is a very safe sport provided one respects conditions, knows one’s own limits as well as the boat’s limits and has a preparation mindset.
To quote my deceased father, who first taught me how to properly handle a paddle and navigate. I was assigned the duty of paddling the skiff while he threw his own hand made cast nets for shrimp.
“Boy, when you’re on the water you never get a second chance and always wear a hat.”
Another great method that you can use to kill yourself is to never bother bringing any fresh drinking water on board.
it was joke
That clearly missed its mark, or maybe found its mark?
It is derived from many many topics on the board, as is the bow and stearn line comment below.
Both, I might add, are brilliant.
Ryan L.
Kayak, not canoe
I have one of each. With my wife in the canoe, a pleasant day on the water is all but assured. going out in the kayak with he is a stress filled “effort”.
50-59
Interesting number.
Most of my beginner students are in that age range. In the local clubs, many are in that age range. I’m pushing 40 and I’m still the kid to most.
I think the reason for that is the cost of entering this sport. It’s not cheap and, for much of the big ticket items, are not things you can pickup bit by bit.
#2 and #4
I could have gotten myself killed trying to go in Beaufort Inlet as the tide was rushing out… with crappy brace and roll skills. Learned a lot that day. My neighbor’s buddy drowned a few years ago in a ww kayak. Blew several roll attempts then got caught in a submerged root ball.