@castoff said:
I dearly love kayak and canoe camping. Do so several times year round. Used to backpack in the mountains, and now use that lightweight compact gear along with a few luxuries I would never carry on my back. Light weight cots and chairs, ax and saw, small cooler with drinks, fishing gear and cast net can all fit in my kayak along the backpacking gear with 3 gallons of water. I could carry another 3 gallons if needed. The canoe has even more carrying capacity.
Likewise. I try to get in a week of Boston Harbor Island kayak camping/fishing each year. I missed it this year. When I went to book this past spring, as I normally do, the different Islands and campsites were already booked for the period that I wanted. I guess this is a good thing as more folks are beginning to appreciate the natural resources just outside of our inner harbor area.
Beautiful water and Islands in the NE. My Daughter did her postdoc at Tuffs, and enjoyed the area when we would visit. I hope to camp on the coast of Maine sometime.
@castoff said:
Beautiful water and Islands in the NE. My Daughter did her postdoc at Tuffs, and enjoyed the area when we would visit. I hope to camp on the coast of Maine sometime.
Did that 55 years ago. Sunshine and blueberries and cold water.
@Rookie said:
That camping thing has been rattling around in the back of my head for a while now. Should it keep bouncing around, will create a thread this winter seeking advice.
Rookie - highly recommend it, but be sure to hook up with a couple of guys in a canoe that can carry all the gear that you won’t have room for in your kayak.
Yep … on our winter trip on the AuSable the canoes carry the firewood down river. The kayakers are just free -loaders {grin}.
@Rookie said:
Was serendipitous that a group of paddlers came along to help, but why was she standing in waist-deep water for an hour? While I’ve not paddled the AuSable, I don’t believe the current is so strong you couldn’t get to the riverbank.
Glad this ended well as the alternative would have been tragic since the temps dropped to 32F in the Grayling area last night.
We see rescues like this several times a year on the local river. I personally remember trying to convince a couple of college girls that they could just wade across shin-deep water to shore - but they refused to move until someone came by in a raft, which they sat into.
But this reported case isn’t so puzzling. 68 yo in waist deep current. Waist deep is enough to cause an athletic person some trouble either wading or getting back into the kayak. For that person, it’s do-able with some care. But if the senior citizen isn’t unusually adept or experienced, that situation can be daunting. Add to that, after a few minutes in the current at that level, enough heat can be drawn from the legs to make muscle control diminish significantly. Even if she is fairly athletic, any hesitation while deciding what to do can be enough to bring on the effect.
I see hoards of people every year who think that because the river is only waist deep, that there is little or no danger from ending up in it. Usually at least a couple times a year, someone finds out too late how wrong that is.
But this reported case isn’t so puzzling. 68 yo in waist deep current. Waist deep is enough to cause an athletic person some trouble either wading or getting back into the kayak. For that person, it’s do-able with some care. But if the senior citizen isn’t unusually adept or experienced, that situation can be daunting. Add to that, after a few minutes in the current at that level, enough heat can be drawn from the legs to make muscle control diminish significantly. Even if she is fairly athletic, any hesitation while deciding what to do can be enough to bring on the effect.
I see hoards of people every year who think that because the river is only waist deep, that there is little or no danger from ending up in it. Usually at least a couple times a year, someone finds out too late how wrong that is.
Good point, especially if she wasn’t wearing a life jacket.
Agree with Steve. Stats show that people can easily go under in waist deep water if they are weaker or uncertain swimmers. And we have no idea if this woman had a clue how to walk in current. Some people need to taught or they just freeze up.
I have a couple of inlaws that would not have been able to move, one of whom is normally considered to be a competent swimmer. Hoping that someone would come along may have seemed like her best bet.
Regarding wading in current, I’ll mention that in one very benign river that I paddle a lot, and which I also swim in a lot, it is simply NOT possible to wade in water that’s deeper than one’s waist in any of the main-current zones (still very much flatwater). In other rivers having even moderately fast current, water up to one’s hips may knock you down or send your feet skidding along the bottom if bottom conditions make it possible for you to remain standing. Much of the ability or inability to walk in current has less to do with “knowing how” and more to do with the limitations of imposed by physics. It’s not hard to imagine a situation where a person could be standing on the bottom but have swifter (or slightly deeper) water between their location and safety, such that the only way to get to safety is to swim. And of course, needing to swim will likely mean you can’t choose the nearest or most desirable destination for safety, but will have to improvise (making an insecure person even more so).
