Re-Entry - Not According to Plan

[Mustafa]

Hi guys

Thought I would share with you my experience this morning..

I was planning to fish the high tide this morning at Millers and then on the way back in, I was planning to do some self rescue drills if the conditions were not too rough.

Things were going according to plan as I made the launch site earlier than expected, and had the kayak ready soon after. I had a good feeling about this morning.. But I still wasn't sure if I should head out as I saw the large waves breaking on the beach (a bit like the surf), although further out seemed calm. So I decided if I got out past the waves I would be OK. I was wrong..

I've been out in rough conditions before, but the swells this morning were more than I was accustomed to.. as I made it past the waves with a bit of difficulty, I paddled out to around 100m and unexpectedly, rolled over.. I was so accustomed to the Kingy being so stable, that I thought it possibly couldn't roll in those conditions.

Now, having read all the safety topics here and elsewhere, nothing prepares you as much as first hand experience does. As I tried to hang on to the kayak to prepare to jump back in, I noticed the paddle leash was wrapped around my leg, I had two rods that went into the drink, I had my bait and burley floating around, safety flag pole broke in half, and my small backpack was filled with water. If you come across two rod/reel combos floating around, please let me know..

I made one initial attempt to jump back on - stablising myself was difficult in those conditons - then rolled again - FAIL.

Tried again - this time I was on and stayed on.. quickly paddled myself into the waves and I was now OK but stunned and all wet. The footwell was full of water, and I later noticed there was some water inside the kayak as well, but nothing to be too concerned about. But I soon started feeling the cold - I had a long john wetsuit which kept me pretty warm, but the top I was wearing was soaked and not drying fast enough - plus I had no bait and my plastics rods were gone! I had to call it quits unfortunately..

I learnt a few lessons this morning and I thought I'd share my experience, even if I do look like an idiot.

Please practice re-entry - you never know when you will roll it over. I had never fallen into the water, let alone rolled it, and I now regret not doing drills earlier. I can now imagine how things might be a lot worse in the colder months. Please be prepared - as it's not IF you will fall in, but WHEN.

Regards,
Mustafa

[maverick]

Great post Mustafa, thanks for sharing. Bummer about your rods. Not an idiot. BTW what sort of PFD were you wearing? Just curious if it was the inflating type or a solid type.

I think what you said is true, it is not IFyou fall in, but WHEN.

[Ghurkin]

Sorry to hear about your lost gear Mustafa, its great that you had the guts to post this timely warning to us all and in no way are you an idiot, if anything mate you just earned some major street (water?) cred


This needs practicing, we are not bullet proof, we are not going to live forever lets live as long as we can and I for one will find some time to practice with my son Pickle (if I can get him away from the PS3) this saturday at mornington, with 30 degrees predicted the easterly wind blowing it will be calmish in close to the cliffs, perfect for a dunking, might even go for a spearfishing sesh as well.

[momunny]

Hi Mustafa,

Thank you for sharing. Pity about the rods and I am glad you are safe. You mentioned getting back on the kayak was difficult. Is this with the wind / wave when you first rolled over...would a paddle float self rescue kit help?

[Mustafa]

Hi guys,

I was wearing a PFD1, so keeping afloat was no problem.. it was the waves which were knocking about the kayak that were the problem.

I just wanted to share because it is different than just imagining it in your head and thinking I will do this or that.. when you have rods, paddle, tackle, esky, its a different ball game so to speak.

I suggest practicing without the gear on the kayak, then add your usual stuff to see how quick you can get back on.

Btw, the BOM got it so wrong.. they predicted waves below half a metre

Cheers,
Mustafa

[momunny]

Hi guys,


Btw, the BOM got it so wrong.. they predicted waves below half a metre

Cheers,
Mustafa

Hi Mustafa, yes the BOM only can give a rough guide. if you have waves of 0.5m and then it also depends on the current and wind direction.
If the wind direction is going the opposite the current, 0.5m can easily give you 1m waves with white caps. Thanks again for sharing your experience and a good reminder to all to seriously give reentry practivce this summer.

[Smish]

Hey Mustafa,

Looks like you had a rough morning! Its been pretty windy in the afternoons and evenings, I noticed the other day that the wind was only 12kts maybe gusting up to 15 which was a little stronger than forecast but doable however there was some big swell still around from the night before and steep waves that were sometimes over a metre. Frustratingly when I anchored the wind was coming in from a different direction to the swell so the yak was facing into the wind but almost broadside to the waves... going up and down and rocking side to side was making me a little dizzy. Altona has such a shallow beach that it doesn't take much before you're getting breakers, if there's a big swell they can have enough force so that if you get a little sideways they'll bowl you over and also make it much harder to remount!

Good to see you survived the experience relatively unscathed... except your day was ruined. Its a PITA loosing equipment. If I'm out and the weather turns sour I take a few minutes to strap the rods flat to the deck and pack everything away so there's nothing loose lying around before I tackle the trip back in, I'm not so much worried about losing things overboard, I have everything tethered but as you can imagine if it all went pear shaped there would be a dangerous tangled mess!

So many things to think about!

[Mustafa]

I think you summed it up well Andrew.. so many things that can get in your way when trying to remount.

Regarding the waves, there were no white caps that I could see but the conditions were 'rough'. It didn't seem that way from the beach though. I still don't understand how the BOM can rate that at half a metre..

I just feel like an idiot because I should have practiced a capsize long time ago..

[Rhino]

I found half a rod with a reel attached to it at Altona this morning. I'm not sure how long the reel will last after a fair old dunking, but if you can identify it and want it back I have it.

[Toadhunter]

Regarding the waves at Altona, I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the larger swells were enhanced by bow waves off ships coming into dock which of course is something that the BOM wont take into consideration when they are making their predictions. When it is firing Millers is one of my favourite spots, but I do find that it can be quite a tricky launch particularly at low tide with a bit of swell around and all the shallow reef. This can be made more difficult as it is such an easy launch when the conditions are right so your mindset can be a bit off if you are used to that. I was out off there a couple of weeks back and launched in what sounds like very similar conditions. It looked like if I could just get past the first 50 metres of reef and waves that the sea was quite manageable. I took a little water on board during the launch but managed to get out into the fishing zone and was rewarded with multiple banjo sharks. Sorry to hear about the lost gear. It certainly makes a good argument for using cheaper rods and reels on the yak and leaving the Stella at home. I lost a rod last Friday too. Not overboard but snapped off the tip high sticking an eagle ray.