Above: A Coast Guard (US) aviation survival technician, commonly known as a rescue swimmer, hoisted from the soup off the coast of Washington (US). Glenn D. Grossman photo.
A pair of former sea kayak instructors, rescued by the Coast Guard while paddling in heavy seas and moderately high winds off the US's Plum Island, Massachusetts wrote a lengthy trip report about their experience.
They were paddling the Plum Island area of Ipswich, a shoaly area that faces northeast, towards open sea.
Conditions that day were onshore: wind pushing heavy waves and steep chop towards the beach.
During the rescue, the two were basketlifted out of the inshore shoals by a Coast Guard helicopter deployed from an air station about 45 miles away. The two decided to call for help after both paddlers both capsized and one failed to roll up, losing his boat in the process. Water temps were normal for early spring in Massachusetts: about 52-degree (F).
Both were in the water nearly two hours before they were located and rescued. The Coast Guard and Ipswich harbormaster were both on scene.
Because the Coast Guard surf boats couldn't reach the kayakers in the shallow water and violent surf, there came the arrival of rescue swimmer Derrick Breton, hoisted down from the helicopter.
The guys were pretty embarassed. But they were well prepared.
What's noteworthy about the rescue is that though the paddlers' judgment is open to all sorts of second guessing, they were well-prepared when they set out. They had enough flares to light off nine. They wore drysuits, neoprene hoods, had decklines, and each carried a VHF radio.
That both kayakers were carrying VHF radios was crucial: one radio's batteries crapped out pretty quickly.
Similarly the kayakers were prepared for cold water immersion. Both wore GoreTex drysuits. Both wore hoods, fleece and neoprene gloves. Just as important their kayaks were equipped with decklines.
Above: foreground: a Coast Guard rescue swimmer, in helmet and pfd, mask, snorkel, and fins, hoists down to pluck another from rough water and swell wash during a wire hoist drill. Rescue swimmers jump when conditions warrent. Glenn D. Grossman photo
The paddlers clung to one boat while they awaited rescue. The other kayak, torn away by the surf, was later recovered on Plum Island by the harbormaster.
For info on the decklines and retroreflective tape helpful to the rescue, see:
decklines
reflective decklines
retroreflective tape
I've broken the paddlers' lengthy trip report down into five posts:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Copyright 2008 Sea Kayaking Dot Net
Photos copyright and printed with permission/Glenn D. Grossman
Posts
2 comments:
I had read their account in Nspn's forum, but the first photo has given me a glimpse of the sea conditions on that day. A brave pair of fellows!
Hi Wenley,
the conditions that day were different than those shown in the photos, which are of Coast Guard rescue swimmer training exercises.
The conditions at Ipswich were much shorter, more confused, and did not feature such large waves in smooth, even sets.
Rather, there was more chop, lower, more steep-shouldered waves, and more whitewatery confusion.
The misdirect iswas my error: for all but this post, the photos (Glenn Grossman's) were clearly labelled as taken during training exercises.
There are some photos of the rescue that day, but they were taken from so far away that all one can see is breaking whitewater and a helo quite far away.
Sorry for the confusion. The conditions were rotten, but not in the way shown in the top photo.
Adam
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