Surfski Knowledge Base

kathleen petereit
12/22/07 #3917

There has been much discussion lately about paddling safely in cold winter conditions. I am so thankful that I have been practising my rescue drills and doing much needed research because Nathan and I came upon a paddler in distress this afternoon. We were having fun in the waves, 3 - 4 footers but they were more like steep swell type waves left over from the snow storm that had just passed.

We spotted a blue kayak in the distance that seemed to go airborne a couple of times and Nathan said let's go play with that guy over there, looks like he's having a blast in those waves. As we got closer we could see he was trying desperately to get in his boat ( one of those short plastic wave sit in kayaks ). He had managed to get to a reef about 40 yards offshore and was waist deep standing on the reef. His kayak was full of water and submerged now. It had a bailing pump inside but he was too cold to function properly to use it. He had on a paddling jacket and dry suit pants and was wet to the core…and no lifejacket. His paddle had drifted away.

He all of a sudden got panicked and begged me to let him get on the back of my ski. He was so cold and motor function had dimished drastically. He could not even swim from the front of my ski to the back to hang on. So I had turn around in the waves and back up, not an easy feat. I hung my legs over the side for balance. I thought if all else fails I can get off and swim him in to shore, I had my drysuit on and knew I could swim this distance comfortably as I had done it practising 2 weeks ago.

He got on the back and lay on my deck with his feet over the stern. This was really hard work and we seemed to inch along. I still had my legs over the side for balance. Nathan managed to get the rope this guy had on his kayak and tied it around his thigh and towed his kayak in.

We got to the dock near a house on Protection island where his buddies were helplessy waiting and watching. They hauled him off my ski and I gave them instructions of how to warm him up slowly. This was a man in his late twenties / early thirties, looked fit, experienced paddler. Probably thought it would be safe without a lifejacket because the waves were running right past his place close to shore. Both Nathan and myself were surprised at how fast his motor skills diminshed. I would have given him 10 more minutes on that reef before he would have become unable to stand and drop unconscious. It was 32 degrees F/ 0 degrees C out of the wind at home before I left, there was a stiff wind on the water so windchill would have been colder. By the time his buddies would have called the CG and help would have arrived it would have been too late.

Nathan and I did practise rescueing each other this summer by putting each other on the backs of our decks just to see what it felt like. He said it was nice to be able to act quickly today without trying to figure out what the hec to do and waste precious minutes. And to have the self confidence of knowing that you are well prepared to help someone else. You have to practise….

Kathleen