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Sea Kayaks Techniques Bulletin Board
Re: Incident Report
Posted By: Shawn Baker In Response To: Incident Report (David)
Date: Tuesday, 20 May 2003, at 12:06 p.m.
Have you read the article by Axel Schoevers in the latest issue of Sea Kayaker...about helping lagging kayakers keep up?
The water sounds really cold for the students not to have been wearing wetsuits.
Sounds like you need some one-on-one training with your "lead" paddler before he's ready to lead a group...it's not too difficult to be able to handle conditions oneself..but to add the responsibility of looking out for others adds a whole new layer of difficulty.
Could you have contacted the tour boat captains via VHF to have them watch out for your paddlers? Obviously, this is something you don't want to have to do...but it's better to ask them to divert course and avoid your streaking rocket leader, instead of running him over. Could one of the tour boats have picked you and your students up instead of having to make shore? (Is it feasible--boats big enough--would this make a decent bailout plan for future trips?) Maybe if the tour boats see you as a partner, and might get some revenue from you in the future, they'll be more inclined to look out for paddlers instead of making them speed bumps!
J deserves kudos. Sometimes it takes a minor incident so you can decide who you can count on and who you cannot. You're right--if it weren't for her, you'd have been all by yourself dealing with this situation. Until your fellow leaders are tested, and you know how they'll instinctively react, you may as well plan as though you'll be alone in herding the cats.
Round your students up and debrief them. There's a lot of learning to be had here.
Shawn
: I stormed off this board in a huff last year and have refrained from posting,
: but I do lurk and support this community. I will share all incident
: reports for review by other instructors. This one had a good ending, but
: might not have.: Incident Report – Addendum
: David Chandross, Victoria Day Weekend Sea Kayaking Class: Summary
: Students returned to Harborfront school by ferry. High easterly winds and low
: water temperatures, along with student fatigue, were variables in the
: decision.: History of Incident
: There were 5 students in the group. It was 3:15 on Sunday, we were returning
: from the Trout Pond using the protected inside channels. The winds were
: blowing at a steady 10 knots during our crossing that morning, and 3
: students had later stated that they felt anxiety during the crossing. At
: the end of the day, on the return leg, we emerged from Muggs Island and
: began to paddle toward the series of airport runway buoys. One student was
: suffering from shoulder pain from an old injury, and 2 others were very
: tired. All students, upon emerging from Muggs, felt anxiety as the wave
: heights climbed. As we paddled out further, half way to the first buoy,
: several boats began to bear down on the group’s position. Due to the
: presence of winds, I held middle position having assigned a strong leader
: and experienced sweep. This way I could get to any group member with equal
: speed.: Despite my best efforts, the presence of gusting winds that exceeded 15
: knots, resulted in the group spreading out beyond my control. As a result,
: students were on various collision paths with the Hanlan point ferry, 2
: tour boats and several sailboats coming through the channel both North and
: South from Muggs Island.: Using a 3 lemon system, I made a rapid assessment of the situation and
: decided we would return as a group to the Hanlan dock and take the kayaks
: back to the city by ferry. The lemons were: a. one student with sore shoulder and fatigue (she wanted to go on!)
: b. the water temperature off my VHF MAFOR reading was 6 degrees
: c. the winds uniformly exceeded 12 knots, white capping and spray were
: evident: I had to use a number of support strokes and low braces to deal with the
: reflected waves coming off the airport runway. I blew my whistle and
: instructed the group to return to the Hanlan dock. By this time, the group
: leader was panicking with the approach of the oncoming ferry and had
: paddled up ahead quickly while I was rounding up straying paddlers. The
: female paddler with the sore shoulder, Herme, was moving dangerously close
: to the metal abutments on the south end of the airport runway. Reflected
: waves were making her journey more difficult, the sweep, an experienced
: paddler, struggled to help her make the 180 turn toward Hanlans. I,
: meanwhile, had safely guided the other 3 students to shore, facing
: considerable risk myself, as at least 2 large tour boats bore down on me
: without any sign of slowing as I held position in the soup and then
: entered the reflected wave zone until Herme cleared the obstacle. She
: later stated that she was terrified. With the sweep and myself guiding
: her, she safely made shore. My estimate was 3 foot great lakes chop with
: whitecaps. Not impressive sounding, but for novices, they were clearly
: unacceptable conditions. The proximity to a headwall and reflected waves
: were the issue. With the wave reflections, some waves exceeded 4 feet and
: were randomly distributed, I found the water unreadable at times.: Under the circumstances, return by ferry was the only reasonable option.
: There was considerable objective risk, my worst-case scenario was a single
: capsize in 6 degree water with the oncoming ferry, and a second capsize as
: I attended to the first.: The lead paddler shot off ahead in panic, unable to stablize his boat enough
: to risk turning his head around. Throughout this period he was being
: pursued by at least 2 large vessels on his paddle to make the first of the
: airport runway buoys. Despite several strong, long blasts from my whistle
: (a mountaineering rescue whistle, very loud), Steve, the lead paddler,
: just continued on ahead. This occurred as another paddler, Mike, began to
: panic in the waves and as mentioned, Hermes was being hammered by
: clapotois and moving into harms way. Steve returned by himself to the
: school fortunately. At this time JM (another staff member, junior
: instructor) appeared in a kayak at Hanlan’s dock and guided one of the
: students back, who wanted the challenge and had experience (the sweep).
: She also took the lead as shore support upon her return to the school. She
: was out on a recreational paddle and so our meeting was serendipitous and
: timely.: All in all, had the students been wearing wetsuits, I would have been able to
: continue in confidence, we would have been down to 2 lemons.: The recovery of the 4 kayaks took 2 hours, as JM assisted me in first picking
: up the students at Bay street, then going with me in my truck for 2 trips
: to rack up and return the kayak gear. Had J not been present at the time,
: I would have been without support. Apparently the office person had left
: early that day, and there but for fortune, J was out paddling, I suspect
: she had an intuition about doing so and attempted to rendezvous with our
: group.: This is the second incident report I have filed on a May weekend in the past
: 2 years. The first involved a combined capsize with knee injury and mild
: hypothermia requiring a 7 hour re-warming after assistance from another
: vessel.: Be careful out there, this time of year the courses have an added element of
: risk due to cold water temperatures and strong “end of the teeth of
: winter” easterlies.: David Chandross
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