Kayaker Rescued

[alanw]

A kayaker named Chris was rescued Saturday night while hoop netting at Dana Point.

Off-duty firefighters rescue kayaker

Apparently he and his dog capsized, his waders filled with water and his self-inflating life jacket failed to work. After 30 minutes of panic and yelling for help he was heard and pulled to safety. After calming down, he got back on his yak and went to collect his hoops.

[Jimmyz123]

Originally Posted by alanw

A kayaker named Chris was rescued Saturday night while hoop netting at Dana Point.

Off-duty firefighters rescue kayaker

Apparently he and his dog capsized, his waders filled with water and his self-inflating life jacket failed to work. After 30 minutes of panic and yelling for help he was heard and pulled to safety. After calming down, he got back on his yak and went to collect his hoops.

Did he have a wading belt on? My guess is that he did not. If you are wearing waders make sure you have a wading belt on and a PFD that will not fail. I do not like the Auto inflate PFDs for that reason. Glad to hear he was saved. Also, when you're on the water, keep an eye out for your fellow Kayakers. I know many of us do this but there may be some that don't. I promise you this, if I see you're on the water, I'm keeping an eye out.

https://www.google.com/search?q=waid...ctive&tbm=shop

[wiredantz]

Dangerous out there...


Does anyone have access to the full story?

[jruiz]

Off-duty firefighters rescue kayaker

2013-10-30
By ERIC HARTLEY, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Very faintly, Scott Schultz heard a voice through the darkness: "Help!"
He couldn't see anything, so he asked his friend and boss, Mark Flores, if he'd heard it.
"Ah, you must be hearing things," Schultz recalled Flores saying as the off-duty firefighters sat off Dana Point hoop-netting for lobster on Schultz's boat.
Schultz, a 12-year veteran of the Orange County Fire Authority, always gets low marks for hearing in his regular checkups.
But he knew what he was hearing Saturday night. Schultz yelled to the next boat, 150 feet or so away, to ask if everyone there was OK. They were - and they hadn't heard anyone calling for help.
Schultz turned on his boat's 200,000-candlepower spotlight and swung it down the mile-long jetty. About 300 feet from his boat, he saw an empty green kayak.
Schultz and Flores, an OCFA captain whose 11-year-old son was aboard, quickly motored closer.
"We found the guy clinging to his kayak, and a dog was swimming circles around him," Schultz said Monday.
The kayaker, Chris, had on a self-inflating life jacket that hadn't worked.
His waders had filled with water, weighing him down, and he couldn't get them off or climb back on his kayak with them on.
"He was panicked. He was scared, and he could only speak in, like, one- or two-word sentences," Schultz said.
Flores secured the kayak and pulled Chris' 20-pound dog onto the boat while Schultz talked Chris around to the back of the boat and pulled him in.
Chris said he'd been yelling for help for 30 minutes. Another half-hour in the 60-degree water and he might have died, Schultz said.
Schultz offered to call the Sheriff's Department's Harbor Patrol, but Chris declined. Schultz thinks Chris was worried he'd get in trouble for not having a whistle on his life jacket or flares.
Chris seemed OK, so Schultz and Flores didn't press the point.
After half an hour of calming down, Chris got back in his kayak and went to collect his own hoops, which took half an hour or so.
Schultz and Flores told him to swing back by the boat before heading in, and he did.
They never got Chris' last name, but he said he was from Dana Point.
Capt. Steve Concialdi, a fire authority spokesman, said Schultz and Flores went "above and beyond the call of duty."

Copyright 2013 Orange County Register
All Rights Reserved

Wire News provided by

[jorluivil]

Glad he's OK but why would you hoopnet with your dog? you already have enough to worry about; other boaters, swells, other nets, wind, low-no light, etc.

[flemdogg]

the boat guy's thread is on BD. Thank goodness he is okay. Judging by the thread it looks like he might have been in a PA.

[wiredantz]

I never NEVER!!!!!! leave home without my paddle float
I even have 2 now



now i just need to get inflatable ankle floats

[driftwood]

Originally Posted by jorluivil

Glad he's OK but why would you hoopnet with your dog? you already have enough to worry about; other boaters, swells, other nets, wind, low-no light, etc.

X2!

[Comanche]

What happend to his VHF? Read on the other sites his lights gave out due to water damage.

[food4less562]

why not just lose the waders if it was weighing him down? Probably be difficult if they were neoprene, but if they were breathable waders you can get out of them pretty easy without a wader belt used.

[alanw]

Originally Posted by food4less562

why not just lose the waders if it was weighing him down? Probably be difficult if they were neoprene, but if they were breathable waders you can get out of them pretty easy without a wader belt used.

Everything is easy until you are panicking.

[Big Wave Dave]

Originally Posted by wiredantz

I never NEVER!!!!!! leave home without my paddle float
I even have 2 now



now i just need to get inflatable ankle floats

Those ankle floats will keep your feet dry, but with your head underwater, I don't think you'll be swimming long.

[old_rookie]

I often wonder about the wader belt. For it to prevent water filling in, it would need to be on really tight.

[Jimmyz123]

Originally Posted by old_rookie

I often wonder about the wader belt. For it to prevent water filling in, it would need to be on really tight.

I wear a belt all the time with my waders and it's not too tight, and here's Jim Sammon's video about waders.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYwG...97C158F9E036ED