Yesterday evening, I went for a nice 2-hour paddle at a local reservoir. There are power boaters at this reservoir, and wake-boarding is particularly popular. There is a two-mile stretch of open water before a no-wake zone (my destination) starts. The remaining two(+) miles of this body of water are delightful. Normally I avoid the so-called lower part of the reservoir because of the power boaters. However, the local ranger district decided to close the launch area of the upper part (the delightful one) unannounced, even though it is supposed to be open until the middle of October. Since I traveled an hour to get there, I am thinking to my self...how bad can the boat wakes get?...I'll just launch at the lower part and paddle up to where I like to be. I had done this once before and it was manageable.
The way to my destination was indeed manageable. I enjoyed the pretty part and took some photos with my cell phone, and I am having a great time. At almost sunset, I start heading back to the launch. About half-way through the power boating part, I hear a boat barreling down on me from behind. I am thinking they'll have at least one pair of eyes focussed forward, while the other folks on board look at the wakeboarder they are towing. I turn to look and the driver did seem to see me, although probably later than both of us wanted. As he wore off course to miss me, a second power boater, who came at a much greater speed from behind the first one, took the opportunity to pass the first boat on my side of things! I am sure the captain of the second boat had not seen me, and now that it was too late to do anything about it, the second boat passed, right between me and the first boat. All this happened pretty much as we are all more or less next to each other with about 30' between each vessel. Thankfully I was not hit directly, but the combined wake pattern of the two boats proved too much and into the drink I went. I live in California, so the water temp is actually quite nice, and I am no more than 100' from the shoreline. I emptied the canoe on the water OK (rocking technique), but after a few failed attempts at getting back into my canoe from the water, I gave up and swam to shore, canoe in tow. After I got back into my canoe, the travel to my car and the ride home were thankfully uneventful.
Lessons Learned:
- Yes - the power boaters acted somewhat irresponsible, but excrement happens and no one got hurt. Well...my ego was a bit bruised because I failed in my attempts to re-enter my canoe from the water. Something I had practiced two years ago and thought I had down!
- I am going to get one of those red kid bicycle flags or some nav-lights for my canoe. Being more visible to other boaters might have avoided the incident altogether. I was in my kevlar Wenonah Prism in front of a patch of tall reeds at dusk. I am sure I blended into my surroundings pretty well.
- My favorite paddling style is kneeling. I had switched to sitting, just a few minutes before the incident. Kneeling would have provided a lot more stability, and I would have likely managed to stay in my canoe. I switched to sitting because it felt good to change my position. In retrospect, I'll sit during the pretty, no wake, part and kneel for the rest!
- I need to practice my "waterboarding" technique. Evidently, this is not a skill I am able to maintain like riding a bike. Probably because I don't do it as much (a good thing).
- I confirmed that wearing a PFD is the best way to get out alive. I never panicked and I was able to focus on things, other than NOT DROWNING. True, I was close to shore and water temp. was nice, but that may not always be the case. Had I been knocked out somehow, and not worn a PFD, I would have drowned for sure. No matter how nice the water temperature is or how close to the shore I am.
- Take a dry bag with extra clothes!!! The funny thing is, I always do, but today I thought...meh...just a quick paddle. I can just grab my PFD and my paddle and go. What I learned was that evaporative cooling works surprisingly well! In the hour between falling into the drink and getting into my car (it is dark at this point), I got the chills way more than I anticipated. My wet clothes kept cooling me down even with the car heater on. The hot air streaming across my wet clothes provided an impressive cooling effect. At one point I contemplated driving in the buff, but that idea remained in my head un-executed.
- Get a FLOATING - waterproof cell phone case for next cell phone!
- Wear a FLOATING sunglass strap with next pair of shades!
- Perhaps my most valuable takeaway, "I don't know what I don't know". The better I am prepared, the fewer incidents will occur, and that lack of incidents allowed me to become complacent. Being prepared is great, but it has the potential to create a false sense of safety. Preparedness creates a lack of bad experiences which, in turn, allowed me to believe I am more skilled than I am, or luckier or...etc. The thought of what might happen never occurred to me. The fact is, I don't know what tragedies were avoided, by doing what I usually do. I allowed a superficial sense of safety to get the better of me and ignore part of my usual process. I won't let that happen again.
Be safe my friends!
The way to my destination was indeed manageable. I enjoyed the pretty part and took some photos with my cell phone, and I am having a great time. At almost sunset, I start heading back to the launch. About half-way through the power boating part, I hear a boat barreling down on me from behind. I am thinking they'll have at least one pair of eyes focussed forward, while the other folks on board look at the wakeboarder they are towing. I turn to look and the driver did seem to see me, although probably later than both of us wanted. As he wore off course to miss me, a second power boater, who came at a much greater speed from behind the first one, took the opportunity to pass the first boat on my side of things! I am sure the captain of the second boat had not seen me, and now that it was too late to do anything about it, the second boat passed, right between me and the first boat. All this happened pretty much as we are all more or less next to each other with about 30' between each vessel. Thankfully I was not hit directly, but the combined wake pattern of the two boats proved too much and into the drink I went. I live in California, so the water temp is actually quite nice, and I am no more than 100' from the shoreline. I emptied the canoe on the water OK (rocking technique), but after a few failed attempts at getting back into my canoe from the water, I gave up and swam to shore, canoe in tow. After I got back into my canoe, the travel to my car and the ride home were thankfully uneventful.
Lessons Learned:
- Yes - the power boaters acted somewhat irresponsible, but excrement happens and no one got hurt. Well...my ego was a bit bruised because I failed in my attempts to re-enter my canoe from the water. Something I had practiced two years ago and thought I had down!
- I am going to get one of those red kid bicycle flags or some nav-lights for my canoe. Being more visible to other boaters might have avoided the incident altogether. I was in my kevlar Wenonah Prism in front of a patch of tall reeds at dusk. I am sure I blended into my surroundings pretty well.
- My favorite paddling style is kneeling. I had switched to sitting, just a few minutes before the incident. Kneeling would have provided a lot more stability, and I would have likely managed to stay in my canoe. I switched to sitting because it felt good to change my position. In retrospect, I'll sit during the pretty, no wake, part and kneel for the rest!
- I need to practice my "waterboarding" technique. Evidently, this is not a skill I am able to maintain like riding a bike. Probably because I don't do it as much (a good thing).
- I confirmed that wearing a PFD is the best way to get out alive. I never panicked and I was able to focus on things, other than NOT DROWNING. True, I was close to shore and water temp. was nice, but that may not always be the case. Had I been knocked out somehow, and not worn a PFD, I would have drowned for sure. No matter how nice the water temperature is or how close to the shore I am.
- Take a dry bag with extra clothes!!! The funny thing is, I always do, but today I thought...meh...just a quick paddle. I can just grab my PFD and my paddle and go. What I learned was that evaporative cooling works surprisingly well! In the hour between falling into the drink and getting into my car (it is dark at this point), I got the chills way more than I anticipated. My wet clothes kept cooling me down even with the car heater on. The hot air streaming across my wet clothes provided an impressive cooling effect. At one point I contemplated driving in the buff, but that idea remained in my head un-executed.
- Get a FLOATING - waterproof cell phone case for next cell phone!
- Wear a FLOATING sunglass strap with next pair of shades!
- Perhaps my most valuable takeaway, "I don't know what I don't know". The better I am prepared, the fewer incidents will occur, and that lack of incidents allowed me to become complacent. Being prepared is great, but it has the potential to create a false sense of safety. Preparedness creates a lack of bad experiences which, in turn, allowed me to believe I am more skilled than I am, or luckier or...etc. The thought of what might happen never occurred to me. The fact is, I don't know what tragedies were avoided, by doing what I usually do. I allowed a superficial sense of safety to get the better of me and ignore part of my usual process. I won't let that happen again.
Be safe my friends!