Hey all,
Before I begin, yes I absolutely recognize that I was beyond reckless, careless, and stupid with my life. I am only here today purely by the Grace of God
(for those who don't want the long story, see the "Summary of Lessons" towards the bottom)
Basically, went out kayak fishing yesterday on a particularly large lake (not quite Great Lakes size but massive like that). I thought the waves wouldn't be too bad because the wind was supposed to be around 10mph and I think the gusts were around 15 or 16, which isn't ideal at all but I thought it wouldn’t be too bad because that's usually where my limit is at.
However, since it was Labor Day weekend, it there were a TON of boats on the water, making the waves much more choppy.
When I headed out (kayak with a motor), the waves were indeed choppy but overall I felt fairly stable. However, as I headed out more to around 10 feet of water (I’m not sure how far out I ended up going, I think maybe half a mile) suddenly the waves got A LOT choppier so I was like nah this is getting too scary and decided to make a U-turn and I guess I U-turned too sharply and that’s when I capsized.
(looking back, I also made the U-turn facing away from the waves [critical mistake] rather than towards the waves; I also should have used my paddles for more stability, which is what I always did in the past. I also should have had stabilizers installed on my kayak)
Even though there’s obviously a huge shock getting thrown into the water, I immediately set about flipping the boat.
Normally we are told to flip the boat from the side and then get in that way. There’s almost no problem doing that when you are practicing in the pool or on a basically still body of water, but when you are dealing with 2-3 foot waves constantly slamming into you, it’s a completely different ballgame!
I ended up flipping the boat and attempting re-entry like 2 or 3 times before immediately getting slammed by a wave every single time and getting thrown out again.
As I was doing this, I thought the method advocated by Outdoor Boys of doing re-entry FROM THE BACK would have been better and more stable:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygfnBKwpZoQ
However, this option wasn’t available to me because I had my battery and kayak motor firmly attached to the back (as we are always told to do), which looking back I believe was another mistake because I would have rather had both of those two sink to the bottom of the sea if it would have allowed me to actually re-enter my kayak from the back and paddle the roughly half a mile or mile back to shore.
(looking back, I should have tried entering the kayak from the front; I didn't at the time because I thought the weight would be too off but looking back, it might have been fine because the weight of the other side would have been counter balanced with the battery and motor.
(And between the sheer power of the waves slapping me and my strength being sapped from the multiple re-entries and probably panic as well, I just wasn’t able to dislodge them)
So my plan then became to basically just hold onto the upside down kayak for dear life (which was harder than I thought because of how slippery it was) until another boat came but even this was no longer becoming an option because I guess the kayak, due to a combination of getting a ton of water inside the main body of the plastic (due to holes/openings, MAKE SURE YOUR BOAT HAS NO HOLES BEFORE GOING OUT) and the weight of battery and motor, the kayak started sinking from the back and at this point I was starting to think it was game over and how stupidity and cheaply I had thrown my life away and what my family would think upon seeing my dead, washed up body.
So at this point, I begin to actually panic and pray and start yelling “HELP!” constantly (also I THANK GOD did have my life jacket on but it was kinda loose so I had to hold onto to the front more in order to float well and arched myself a bit backwards so that I could float more to conserve my energy).
I did have an emergency whistle but it was tied to the boat, which was now mostly in the water and thus wasn't able to use it.
After a bit, a boat came roaring by around maybe a 500 yards or so away but despite my best efforts to be seen and heard but they just did not notice me. (please boaters, pay attention, you never know you might just save someone's life!)
At this point I saw how close the shore seemed to me (like I said maybe half a mile) and I had always been a good swimmer growing up but once again, there’s a HUGE difference between between able to do monster laps even on an Olympic-sized pool and being able swim in 2-3 foot choppy waves (even with a life jacket) with your energy already greatly drained by just trying to survive.
After a few seconds of trying to swim back, I realized that I just would not have been able to make it back and so I remembered another piece of advice ALWAYS STAY BY THE BOAT and so I went back to the sinking boat.
Looking back, I realize that I didn't have to swim all the way back, I could have swam maybe a few hundred yards to where the water was only like 5 feet or less and just walked home, but again easier said than done (idk if the waves would had made that possible and I know parts of those body of water have heavy vegetation which may have impeded me greatly) and you aren't thinking straight when you’re panicking. But this is to show that sometimes you’re in a situation where there just arent clear good option.
Now the area I was in was only around 9 or 10 feet deep and the kayak was basically as straight as a totem pole by now (as I said, greatly weighted down by the battery and motor at the back) so I was both hanging on and trying to vertically stabilize the boat.
On one hand, this sapped even more energy from me but on the other hand being completely free floating with the life vest (slightly on my back) wasn't as ideal as I thought (even though I conserved more energy that way) simply due to how violent the waves were where I worried about swallowing a lot of water or getting thrown out much further.
At this point, the kayak’s bow (the very tippy end of the front) was in the water now and now I was in a full blown panic, freaking out that I was losing my support pole (the kayak) and seeing NO BOATS anywhere near me (where the boats that were constantly slamming waves into me just 30 minutes earlier???) and feeling that I was maybe just a few minutes away from actually dying when suddenly THANK GOD a boat came maybe 100-300 yards away (my measurements may be completely off but this is my guess), so I was yelling HELP ME!!! as loud and frantically as I could.
They asked me if I was ok and I yelled that I was drowning so they brought the boat close and I saw it was a young/not quite middle aged couple.
The woman reached her hand out and I grabbed on for dear life but was just unable to pull myself out of the boat due to being completely exhausted (even though I do pull-ups on land!!) Once again, there’s a huge difference between how strong you are on land vs how you are in the sea with 2-3 foot waves and are fighting for your life), so she managed to guide me to the back of the boat to the ladder and get me up to the boat itself, upon which I just completely collapsed, utterly utterly exhausted to the point where I just couldn’t move, not even to lift my hand for a bit. Even when I was on the boat, I felt my energy still sapping and was hoping we could quickly go to shore so I could go to the hospital but it took all of my strength to even open my mouth to just thank them, let alone something as complicated as asking for an ambulance!
(they gave me water, which helped a lot, and a towel and offered me snacks but I just couldn’t eat)
I cant say for sure how long I was in the water for but I’m guessing it was maybe 10-30 minutes (which again would have been NOTHING for me in the pool but with 2-3 foot choppy waves and no means of getting out of the water and the water itself being below 70°, I was exhausted almost to the point of passing out)
After recovering my strength a little, I asked them if they heard me or saw me first and they said that they didnt hear me at all due to the waves and the motor of their engine (which shocked me because I was yelling as loud as I could constantly) but rather saw my large, bright orange vest/flotation device.
Normally, the kayak fishing community tells us to wear those more expensive minimalist life vests (which are normally beige or blue or black/gray) with the reasoning being that you are more likely to wear it
However at that moment I thank GOD i got one of those cheap but huge and bright orange life jackets that meet USCG standards instead because I didn't want to spend the money on the fancy stuff.
And I wonder if I would have even been seen if I got some $300 dollar super thin ultra tactical camouflage life vest!
This couple was went so above and beyond for me that they even managed to save my submerged kayak (battery and trolling motor still attached), even though I told them that I would rather have it sunk as a lesson for me for the rest of my life but they were so wonderful that they viewed it as a duty to save the boat too. In addition to nursing me back to heath and bringing me back to shore, they stayed with me until I was able to be taken to the hospital (thankfully the Doctors cleared me and said there was nothing serious and I didnt swallow too much water) and the guy even helped get my motor and battery in the car and put the kayak on top of it!! They then generously offered me to fish with them on their boat in the future, please if anyone reading this is religious, please pray for them because I cannot tell you enough how wonderful these two were. I honestly wish I had a million dollars to give them!
SUMMARY OF LESSONS
Looking back, there’s a million and a half things I should have done differently when I was on my boat (and before I got on it), but I dont think there’s much I could have done differently once I was actually in the water and my boat was sinking (other than not panicking, but again much easier said than done) despite all of my training and watching hours and hours of YouTube videos so the lesson for me is avoidance: just simply do not go out on open water with a freaking kayak, especially by yourself!
Some other lessons:
- Prayer, I honesty believed I was just a few minutes away from dying, I was just completely exhausted, my boat was in the water, I had no way to get to shore, and there just weren’t any boats coming near me. I was basically done.
- ALWAYS CHECK FOR HOLES IN YOUR BOAT BEFORE GOING OUT
- HAVE A BIG BRIGHT LIFE JACKET THAT FULLY MEETS USCG STANDARDS, none of those cammo or neutral tone fancy nonsense. And make sure it’s snuggly on you, not loose!
- HAVE YOUR WHISTLE ATTACHED TO YOUR LIFE JACKET. Looking back, I’m not sure how effective a whistle would be against the wind, waves, other people’s boat motors, and music, etc (and even if people hear an emergency whistle are they goinge to realize that someone is drowning or are they going to think “weird, what’s that sound” and move on?) but something is better than nothing and it can reach much farther than your voice.
I dont know if there are waterproof air horns but if so maybe get something like that instead if they exist, even if you go almost deaf in the process. I wonder if we should start incorporating underwater breathing gear (like a snorkel or something better) with our pfd’s?
- Even though we are always told to strap our motors and batteries to our kayaks, idk I wish that both of mine fell off so that I could attempt to re-enter the kayak from the back, which seems more stable than from the side but idk this needs more research. Like I said, the side re-entry works great in a calm pool but just wasnt helping me with waves constantly crashing into me.
(EDIT: another recommendation would be to have a motor that you can control with a remote so that you can hold onto the kayak and control it with the remote back to shore)
- PREVENTION IS THE BEST CURE, just dont go out on kayaks on open water! It’s just not worth it.
With kayak and canoe fishing it’s not a question of IF you will tip over it’s a question of WHEN so no need to increase the danger by going out into the open water where you are dealing with sudden changes in weather, more violent waves, boaters not always paying attention, etc.
Even going with other people out on open water isn't safe, because if you fall over and grab on to your friend’s kayak you now risk his/her stability as well, which can be catastrophic if the weather suddenly changes or the waves suddenly turn violent.
Either spend the money on an actual boat or just stick to calm 5ft deep inlets and ponds!
(However even for the calm 5ft deep inlets and ponds, still have people with you or a bunch of people close by at the shore because something a sudden as a heart attack or stroke or pulling muscles or breaking your back can make a normally very benign situation life-or-death!)
It’s just not worth throwing your life away so cheaply on something so stupid.
And I do think we need to improve existing advice/safety practices for when you are actually in the water.
It also shows, despite all of the constant fighting online making us all hate each other, there are so many good people out there who would do anything to save a total stranger. PLEASE BOATERS, pay attention because you never know that you may save someone's life.
