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For the next few days I beat myself up pretty thoroughly for my part in the incident. I should have known better than to place someone with little kayaking experience in the type of situation we were in. I could have been more assertive and kept Chris closer to shore. I could have been more detailed in my explanations regarding the elements. We both should have been in dry suits in these conditions. Granted, the water was smooth in the lee, but it was very cold, and anything can happen when the weather is up, no matter how calm it seems close in to the shore. Disaster loomed just a few paddle-strokes away. Once we were outside the lee, our chances for getting back to safety diminished rapidly as we drifted into ever-strengthening wind and increasingly rough water. If the tug had not been there and the Paraclete ferry had been delayed, our flares might have been of little use. A VHF radio could have allowed us to summon help before our situation got truly desperate. We had slipped out of safety and into circumstances that we were not fully prepared to manage. We were fortunate that there were boaters who spotted our distress flares and were able to come to our aid. As a matter of habit, I always carry spare clothing in a dry bag, but it wouldn’t have done us a bit of good unless we could have gotten ashore. My survival kit has matches, flares, a signal mirror, extra batteries, a first-aid kit with a space blanket, a fire starter and some basic energy bars. This kit is in a clear dry bag that I keep tethered to my life vest and on my lap. Immediately after this incident, I purchased a flare gun and six flares that I now keep in a dry-box on the foredeck. I replace the flares as they expire. I cut some cord to lengths that I can use to lash boats together. I stow two T-handles in my emergency kit to use with the separate halves of my spare breakdown paddle for paddling while rafted up. I now insist that my paddling partners be more experienced and that they wear dry suits or at least a Farmer John wetsuit with a dry top. Anytime there’s any potential for inclement weather, regardless of being in the lee of any type of landform, I am just not going to paddle with someone who doesn’t have the experience to handle a kayak appropriately in the surrounding, not just the immediate, conditions. John Kraske has been sea kayaking since 1979. He has paddled in Alaska, Mexico, Hawaii and throughout the Pacific Northwest and has been a kayak instructor for Snohomish County Parks and Recreation for four years. He has been a whitewater kayaker since 1985 and is a certified Swiftwater Rescue Technician.
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