Kayaker rescued in Bass Strait.
You can read some comments here by the President of the Victorian Sea Kayak club.
presidents-e-news-june-2019.pdf
This
may not be totally accurate but I gather some paddler was trying to do
a non-stop paddle across Bass Strait from Victoria. Did about 110km,
fell asleep and capsized and couldn't get back in his kayak. I find that
absolutely unbelievable that he couldn't get back in his kayak - that's
crazy. Before I did my double crossing of Bass Strait in 1982 I
practiced and practiced getting back in my kayak upside down and
rolling up. I even practiced in the dark at 10 o'clock at night. I
would not have left Tasmania if I wasn't absolutely sure I could get in
and upright 100% of the time.
And the thing is that these people
attempting a non-stop crossing wait and wait till they have a forecast
for flat conditions in Bass Strait for two days before they even start.
This
is from my trip report when I was about to leave Wilson's Prom to
paddle to Flinders Island - 105 nautical miles (that's 196.46km in these new-fangled measurements).
Monday morning and it was time to go again, a forecast strong north
wind followed by a SW change - what could be more ideal?
I didn't worry about a SW change, I'm a sea kayaker - not a marathon paddler pretending to be a sea kayaker.
And he capsized!!!!
This is from my trip report (about 3am, and I had a sail up - or as some other people might say "I had deployed my sail"):
Then the impossible happened - I started dozing off. I would have thought
that the motion of the boat, plus the spray whipping across the deck would
have kept me awake without any trouble, but for the next two hours I battled
to stay awake. The compass was just a blur - by peering right forward I
could distinguish the E and S, but the three number figures in between
were just a blob of white. I have dozed off on a night paddle before, but
in fairly calm conditions. At that time I am fairly sure I continued to
paddle while asleep, maybe three or four strokes at a time. This time I
also survived by instinct. Many times I woke with a start to find the Longboat
off balance, only to realise I had already performed a support stroke automatically.
The other trip referred to was a solo night paddle of 120km in 1980.
The
reason I have confidence I am not going to capsize if I fall asleep is
because I do a lot of paddling in wilder conditions where you are
constantly doing supports strokes - so much so that it is just an
automatic reaction when you are asleep. As I have proved time and time
again on night paddles. You can't train for sea kayaking on the Murray
River.
I also have a feeling that this same paddler a couple of
years ago was paddling just to the west of Wilsons Prom and came out of
his kayak and had a long difficult swim to get himself and his kayak to
shore.
The above mentioned Presidents report also said this:
The
Club understands that AMSA does have the prerogative of charging for
rescue, and will consider the track record of the paddler being rescued
in deciding this. If the paddler has irresponsibly undertaken the
paddle, been subject to previous rescue by authorities or called for
rescue in non-‐life threatening situations then the option of charging
might be taken up.
This paddler was totally irresponsible and in my opinion should have been charged. He is giving real sea kayakers a bad name.
I am led to believe this paddler was Roger Greenwood.