Capsize
Realisation
Flags and lifeguards
Thanks
The sun was shining hot and proud. We had packed up our pink lemonade and delicious fresh lunch into our waterproof bag, whacked on hats and the factor 30 and were ready to hit the water. The tide was on the turn from the low, a light easterly wind blew across the bay with gusts up to 10mph. The swell was around two-foot, but was a gentle, predictable movement up and down. I had paddled in conditions like this and much worse for many hours before – I wasn’ t concerned at all.
I discussed with my partner in crime for the day, the plan and our route – he had decided to take a kayak as he was concerned he’ d fall off a lot in the swell. He ' d clocked a few hours on a kayak, he said and was quite confident, so we set off beaming from ear to ear. To be honest I was a little smug as the only paddleboarder out standing up, rhythmically gliding up and over the swell with my kayaking buddy just to my left.
Capsize
We pottered on like this for maybe ten or fifteen minutes until we got into slightly open water. The swell was occasionally picking up to around three-foot, so I shouted across,“ You doing ok?” We needed to head in a little towards the shoreline, try and cut through the waves in a zig-zag pattern to avoid getting tipped sideways. Unfortunately as I shouted this instruction, my partner turned to look at me and rotated his kayak in the process, so it became parallel to to a largish wave and it tipped him off. I laughed( he’ s always falling in) and shouted“ You ok?” I got a thumbs up, so put the brakes on and turned into the swell to keep an eye on him.
He flipped the kayak and tried to get on. He fell again. He flipped it over again. Tried to get back on. The same thing happened. I paddled toward him, giving clear, calm instruction how to balance your weight without tipping the board. He tried again and again. But just couldn’ t do it.
At the point he fell in the water, I had clocked our position in relation to two points on the land giving me an idea where we were and enabling me to watch for drifting either towards the rocks or out to sea. After five minutes, finally he managed to get back onto the kayak only for it to sink and tip him off straight away. He was getting tired and frustrated, I could see the panic in his eyes as we realised that the seal on the kayak had broken and that it had taken on too much water.
I had been constantly monitoring our position and the sea state in this time. It was worsening, getting choppier and regularly larger swell; we had drifted a good 80 metres out to sea, so I called it. This was no longer a self recovery situation, but a rescue.
I was already sitting astride my board with both paddles trying to stabilise the kayak, so I took the leash and leashed the kayak to the rear of my board giving my partner clear instructions to hold onto the back of the kayak and kick as hard as he could and to shout as loud as possible if he let go or was tired. I turned on my knees and paddled as hard as I could to get us moving. I can’ t tell you how tough this was, towing a kayak now semi-submerged and full of water, with an 18-stone man bringing up the rear. My partner begged me to go to a smaller closer section of shore, but I knew there to be treacherous rocks around and we had a higher risk of injury upon landing there. We took the longer but safer route to the nearest beach.
I fought the now three-foot swell coming diagonally into the beach with the kayak jolting me back with each stroke it was so heavy, I headed as far right as possible to allow us to come in on an angle but at 90 degrees to the waves and where there was a space with no swimmers to allow us to land as safely as possible. We got to shore and I just managed to grab the kayak after jumping off my board, before it hit a small child, who was watching us curiously.
We dragged the two craft up the beach and I collapsed in a heap utterly exhausted, sweat dripping off my entire body – I grabbed and drained a litre of water- this whole episode occurred in 28-degree heat, on an otherwise perfect day.
Realisation
The realisation of what had just happened hit us both, as we both had an overwhelming rush of adrenaline. We decided to sit and refuel, before we planned our next move and ended up discussing what we had just learnt. 1. He was wearing a life jacket – as a fair novice on the sea, thank god he was. 2. He admitted he was over-confident. It put us both at risk.
3. It is essential to pay attention to safety guidance from instructors. He listened and we ended up safe.
4. How important it was that I took a lesson in self recovery and rescue with WeSup nearly two years ago, before I first took my children out.
5. No matter how lovely it seems when you look at the water, things can change very quickly.
6. Even with extensive experience, you can ' t predict the unpredictable.
After lunch I decided the most efficient way to get us safely back, was for me to paddle round the coast and get help, which I did quickly and without incident. Until I got to the shore. The waves were still big and I was battling to balance as I approached the shoreline – I planned my route in avoiding the swimmers, standing at the back of my board and heading for the craft landing zone, I was not five metres from shore when an elderly gentleman decided to swim from out of nowhere, without looking, in front of my board. I slammed the breaks on but still gently nudged his nose, as the wave lurched me forward, with the nose of my 12-foot beast. " I ' m so sorry," I shouted " but what were you doing, you shouldn ' t be swimming here!”
Flags and lifeguards
So a side note to swimmers and other beach users, it ' s tough to control a craft landing In waves – boards and kayaks are big and heavy, you really don’ t want to get in the way. Pay attention to the flags and lifeguards. Please.
By now I was utterly exhausted as the kayak instructor approached me asking if everything was ok – I couldn ' t speak. I shook my head, but muttered he’ s fine I got him to the shore, the kayak took on water. He began to panic a little,“ Where is he, do I need to rescue him?" I took some breaths and retold the story.
Of course I didn’ t leave him drifting at sea alone! I would have called the coastguard and stayed with him had I not been able to perform the rescue myself.
Again, as I was taught by my WeSup family. l Always have a phone. l Always have a plan.
Thanks
Today, I thanked the goddess of the sea for giving me the clarity to remember my training, assess and make good judgements and for people like Sean and his crew that never fail to impress me with their dedication to teaching our tribe and our safety at sea. It ' s why sometimes we aren ' t allowed to go on certain adventures or out in certain sea states. Without that training and expertise, almost certainly the story today would have ended differently.
Instead it ended with a jug of Pimms in the sunshine, celebrating being alive and my perfectly executed rescue mission.
He might have even called me his hero...
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