The Kayak Forum is Sponsored By
|
|
|
| |
Sea Kayaks Techniques Bulletin Board
hope the weather is better next weekend
Posted By: Frank Eberdt In Response To: Incident Report (David)
Date: Tuesday, 20 May 2003, at 12:42 p.m.
: 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
I hope the weather is better next weekend. I and my wife are planning to take the same two day course at Harbourfront then. We plan to bring wet suits.
By coincidence I happend to bike by on Sunday and looked out at the water from the Kayak center. It looked pretty rough.
| |
Sea Kayaks Techniques Bulletin Board is maintained by Nick Schade - Guillemot Kayaks with WebBBS 5.12.
|
Kayaking Technique |
|
|
|
