weather warnings are for a reason.

S

starcrafttom

Active member
Read this today. Clearly there was a small craft in effect but the women did not know or did not head the warning.
SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine -- The Coast Guard says two kayakers who went missing while paddling in Maine's Casco Bay are dead.

Officials said 18-year-old Irena McEntee and 20-year-old Carissa Ireland were unresponsive when they were found Monday morning, three miles off Cape Elizabeth. Coast Guard Cmdr.

Brian Downey confirmed they're dead.

The women's kayaks were found Sunday after they had attempted to paddle from Peaks Island to Ram Island, a distance of about a mile. The water temperature is between 46 and 48 degrees.

Tom Hawley from the National Weather Service says there was a small craft advisory in effect at the time. He says there were sustained winds of 22 mph.
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"But it's only a mile" might have been their reasoning.

However, they also did not heed the Paddler's Rule of 100 which basically means you shouldn't go out on the water if the water temperture and the air temperature, totalled, do not exceed 100 F.

The Deckhand
 
Sad story; so young. Years ago a visiting couple left in an inexpensive raft trying to traverse the 1/2 mile or so to "Chinaman's Hat" (island) off O'ahu. Usually, the winds are towards O'ahu, making the trip out safe and the return easy. On this day, however, Kona winds (southerlies) blew and increased. Being on vacation and with a timeline to keep, they made the fateful decision to "try". They were NEVER seen again. The raft was found two days later by the USCG, overturned and empty.
 
It is exceptionally rare for most of coastal Alaska to meet the "Paddler's Rule of 100" no matter what time of year but we kayak all the time up here, "summer" and winter. On top of very cold water and very cold air we also deal an abundance of wildlife such as whales, Stellar Sea Lions, Salmon Sharks, Orcas, brown bears and inebriated boat owners. Surfers have it even worse up here, I know several who have got caught between Orcas/Sharks right outside the surf zone and brown bears waiting on shore. Bears are very patient.

You have to be careful no matter what time of year, carry plenty of safety gear including radios and never ever let your guard down. Most Alaska born folk don't even know how to swim as it's kind of difficult to learn how to swim when the water does not get above 40 degrees. The State High School (kids are flown here for the school year as their villages cannot afford a school) is trying to raise enough funds for a pool to teach swimming but it is an uphill battle. Even if you can swim you only have about 5 minutes to live before the cold water renders your muscles and nervous system unresponsive.

Unless there is alcohol involved, most kayakers up here hit the water prepared for the worst whereas it sounds like these two poor kayakers viewed their trip as a "walk in the park". Even a simple "walk in the park" up here includes bear spray or a firearm.
 
This is why we always take our personal safety bag in any boat--see the posting on that: http://www.c-brats.com/viewtopic.php?t=13594

For example in a case like this we have the ERIPB (Personal locator beacon), hand held radio and mylar space blanket amound other items). But the average kayaker will not take these precautions.

A number of years ago we picked the occasioal exhausted wind surfers up to 10 miles down wind form caribbean Islands--Even a simple outing can become deadly if you are not prepared.

So when you go that one mile in the dinghy--be prepared--good lesson.
 
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