Hello chaps. I hope your SOT was salvageable, Halemano. I've heard quite a few of these slow leak stories now. In one, a SOT kayaker almost drowned in a reservoir in the middle of Wales in winter, because he thought the leak was slow enough to keep heading for the shore in front of him. Fortunately he survived to realise he should have turned straight back to the nearer slipway, but not before he got hypothermia and caused a rescue helicopter call out. I think it's time to get some air bags, even tho my kayak is a SOT. It seems a lot of these bags come apart at the seams after about a year. If anyone knows any brands that last better, I'd be grateful to hear.
One of the few reasons I thought a kayak might have to be abandoned, is through what is hopefully an unlikely strike of some large, sharp, subsurface object tearing a hole in the hull too big to repair at sea. This might also tear an air bag, but if there was a bag fore, aft and amidships, then 2 should survive and provide enough buoyancy to prevent a complete sinking.
Thank you for the interesting Dorset story, Vladimir. I didn't realise another diver had managed a big self-rescue swim. I had heard of something similar in the last year or so. The 2nd reason I thought a kayak might be lost is due to the waves on the edge of a huge rip dislodging the kayaker and the kayak being carried off along the other side. As it happens, one of the biggest rips I know is off the tip of Portland Bill on the western edge of Weymouth Bay. And why would I think of going anywhere near it? Well, for the same reason that Scallop diver was there- that area still has a more healthy marine environment than most around Britain. Obviously I'll try not to be crossing it when the tide turns!
For completeness, the 3rd reason was an even rarer unfriendly encounter with a large marine animal. I cite the Youtube clip of the whale breaching onto a yacht, crushing its mast. I'm very sorry to say the chance of this at the moment is miniscule, due to the actions of British seafarers in the past. There are hardly any dolphins left in the English Channel, let alone whales. We are however, hopefully, about to get a whole chain of marine reserves around the entire shore of Britain. Not before time. Give us a decade or so, and it might be worth coming to visit us. You might be surprised how healthy and colourful British seascapes are in the handful of marine reserves we currently have.
One of the few reasons I thought a kayak might have to be abandoned, is through what is hopefully an unlikely strike of some large, sharp, subsurface object tearing a hole in the hull too big to repair at sea. This might also tear an air bag, but if there was a bag fore, aft and amidships, then 2 should survive and provide enough buoyancy to prevent a complete sinking.
Thank you for the interesting Dorset story, Vladimir. I didn't realise another diver had managed a big self-rescue swim. I had heard of something similar in the last year or so. The 2nd reason I thought a kayak might be lost is due to the waves on the edge of a huge rip dislodging the kayaker and the kayak being carried off along the other side. As it happens, one of the biggest rips I know is off the tip of Portland Bill on the western edge of Weymouth Bay. And why would I think of going anywhere near it? Well, for the same reason that Scallop diver was there- that area still has a more healthy marine environment than most around Britain. Obviously I'll try not to be crossing it when the tide turns!
For completeness, the 3rd reason was an even rarer unfriendly encounter with a large marine animal. I cite the Youtube clip of the whale breaching onto a yacht, crushing its mast. I'm very sorry to say the chance of this at the moment is miniscule, due to the actions of British seafarers in the past. There are hardly any dolphins left in the English Channel, let alone whales. We are however, hopefully, about to get a whole chain of marine reserves around the entire shore of Britain. Not before time. Give us a decade or so, and it might be worth coming to visit us. You might be surprised how healthy and colourful British seascapes are in the handful of marine reserves we currently have.
