Kayaker Rescued Bellarine Peninsula

SAFETY FIRST!! Please read as no fish is worth dying for.
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4liters
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Re: Kayaker Rescued Bellarine Peninsula

Post by 4liters »

How much would a wetsuit help with heat retention?
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Re: Kayaker Rescued Bellarine Peninsula

Post by cheaterparts »

4liters wrote:How much would a wetsuit help with heat retention?
quite a bit http://www.nrs.com/hypothermia.asp
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Re: Kayaker Rescued Bellarine Peninsula

Post by JägerMarty »

Glad he's ok, I wonder what sort of yak he was on?
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Re: Kayaker Rescued Bellarine Peninsula

Post by Rhino »

Yako wrote:This is not good. So he had a pfd but was really lucky someone found him.
No PLB, No flares. No VHF handheld (Torch???) - What was he thinking?????
Rhino may know more about this. Sounds darn stupid to me - deserves a fine.
A colleague and I met with Steve this afternoon. A nice guy, slightly embarrassed, but happy to be used to spread the safety message.

He had left Portarlington in the late afternoon for a spot of fishing on his recently purchased Revo13 and hadn't planned to be out after dark. His wife also has a Revo11 but wasn't on this trip.
He was wearing an inflatable vest style pfd, had a head torch on board but no bailer. He was dressed in shorts and t-shirt with self draining boat style shoes. He was lure fishing and had his rod attached to a retractable lanyard. He was reaching out to grab his lure and with his head over the centre line of the yak it only took a small wave to tip him over.

He remained calm after entering the water and had two unsuccessful attempts to remount the kayak. After the second attempt he swallowed some salt water which triggered an asthma like attack and he had difficulty breathing. It was at this point that he inflated his pfd. It took him approximately 45 minutes to control his breathing but then found it impossible to enter the yak with an inflated pfd. He wasn't aware that he could manually deflate and inflate it. He then attempted to swim the yak to shore. He estimates he travelled about 2-300 metres before tiring. From that point on it was a waiting game for somebody to come passed him. He had been in the water for up to 3 hrs. The hull had water in it.

He could see people on the shoreline and cars passing. He yelled numerous times to raise the alarm. He said he wished he had a whistle, at which point I informed him that he had one. It's part of his pfd.
The coastguard didn't save him. It was a local maritime training provider. On returning to Geelong after a days training around the heads they spotted a professional fisherman and his net identified by the white light at each end. After spotting another white light in the water they were looking for the second one identifying the end of another net but couldn't see it. Upon investigating the solo white light they discovered the empty yak and its operator approximately 700 metres offshore.

He was pulled aboard, dried off and wrapped in dry blankets before meeting an ambulance back at port. His temperature was measured at 32 degrees 25 minutes after having been rescued. He credits the lifejacket as having saved his life, helping keep him afloat whilst waiting to be rescued. He hadn't told anybody that he was going out, where he was going and what time he planned to return. When dusk fell and he wasn't home his family noticed that his yak was missing and went looking for him down the beach. They reportedly heard his calls for help and raised the alarm but his rescuers had already informed authorities that he was onboard.

He hasn't been put off by this experience but has learned from it. He and his wife will be doing re-entry practice this weekend weather permitting. He is investigating paddle floats and a stirrup as an aid to re-entry, along with a plb , cheap mobile phone and manual bilge pump or bailer. He is going to learn how to operate his equipment and become familiar with it. You don't want to try and figure out how things work in an emergency. You need to be comfortable, confident and competent with your safety equipment beforehand.

Cheers
Rhino.
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Re: Kayaker Rescued Bellarine Peninsula

Post by laneends »

Some good lessons to be learned. Particularly about not intending to be out out after dark but it turning out that way. also reentering when you have an inflatable PFD
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Re: Kayaker Rescued Bellarine Peninsula

Post by cruiser »

Rhino wrote:
Yako wrote:This is not good. So he had a pfd but was really lucky someone found him.
No PLB, No flares. No VHF handheld (Torch???) - What was he thinking?????
Rhino may know more about this. Sounds darn stupid to me - deserves a fine.
A colleague and I met with Steve this afternoon. A nice guy, slightly embarrassed, but happy to be used to spread the safety message.

He had left Portarlington in the late afternoon for a spot of fishing on his recently purchased Revo13 and hadn't planned to be out after dark. His wife also has a Revo11 but wasn't on this trip.
He was wearing an inflatable vest style pfd, had a head torch on board but no bailer. He was dressed in shorts and t-shirt with self draining boat style shoes. He was lure fishing and had his rod attached to a retractable lanyard. He was reaching out to grab his lure and with his head over the centre line of the yak it only took a small wave to tip him over.

He remained calm after entering the water and had two unsuccessful attempts to remount the kayak. After the second attempt he swallowed some salt water which triggered an asthma like attack and he had difficulty breathing. It was at this point that he inflated his pfd. It took him approximately 45 minutes to control his breathing but then found it impossible to enter the yak with an inflated pfd. He wasn't aware that he could manually deflate and inflate it. He then attempted to swim the yak to shore. He estimates he travelled about 2-300 metres before tiring. From that point on it was a waiting game for somebody to come passed him. He had been in the water for up to 3 hrs. The hull had water in it.

He could see people on the shoreline and cars passing. He yelled numerous times to raise the alarm. He said he wished he had a whistle, at which point I informed him that he had one. It's part of his pfd.
The coastguard didn't save him. It was a local maritime training provider. On returning to Geelong after a days training around the heads they spotted a professional fisherman and his net identified by the white light at each end. After spotting another white light in the water they were looking for the second one identifying the end of another net but couldn't see it. Upon investigating the solo white light they discovered the empty yak and its operator approximately 700 metres offshore.

He was pulled aboard, dried off and wrapped in dry blankets before meeting an ambulance back at port. His temperature was measured at 32 degrees 25 minutes after having been rescued. He credits the lifejacket as having saved his life, helping keep him afloat whilst waiting to be rescued. He hadn't told anybody that he was going out, where he was going and what time he planned to return. When dusk fell and he wasn't home his family noticed that his yak was missing and went looking for him down the beach. They reportedly heard his calls for help and raised the alarm but his rescuers had already informed authorities that he was onboard.

He hasn't been put off by this experience but has learned from it. He and his wife will be doing re-entry practice this weekend weather permitting. He is investigating paddle floats and a stirrup as an aid to re-entry, along with a plb , cheap mobile phone and manual bilge pump or bailer. He is going to learn how to operate his equipment and become familiar with it. You don't want to try and figure out how things work in an emergency. You need to be comfortable, confident and competent with your safety equipment beforehand.

Cheers
Rhino.
Had a feeling and reading into the reports it was something like this ,good on him for wanting to keep at it :up: if he ever wants some company on the next trip and if he is so inclined it would be my pleasure to head out and do some fishing together
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Re: Kayaker Rescued Bellarine Peninsula

Post by shane »

Great follow up work Rhino. :clap: It certainly makes it very clear what can go wrong and some of the simple steps and preparation that go toward avoiding a similar situation.
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Re: Kayaker Rescued Bellarine Peninsula

Post by maverick »

shane wrote:Great follow up work Rhino. :clap: It certainly makes it very clear what can go wrong and some of the simple steps and preparation that go toward avoiding a similar situation.

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Re: Kayaker Rescued Bellarine Peninsula

Post by Yako »

Thanks Rhino for the update :thumbsup:
Hopefully TSV etc can make some sort of mini docci like the one currently with the tinnie upturned based on this incident.
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Re: Kayaker Rescued Bellarine Peninsula

Post by Rhino »

shane wrote:Great follow up work Rhino. :clap: It certainly makes it very clear what can go wrong and some of the simple steps and preparation that go toward avoiding a similar situation.
Thanks Shane, I was glad to be asked along. I think it's a worthwhile exercise and helps MSV come up with strategy to get the message out.
That message really needs to get out there too. On patrol yesterday every kayaker we came across was non compliant.
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