This morning I came upon this article which shook me up. It seems that a body was found about two miles offshore from Rye in the English Channel. The kayaker's boat was found floating near by.

The coastguard said that man's injuries and the damage to the canoe suggested he had been run down by a ship and killed.

Over the past summer, there have been several different reports of large boats running over canoe, kayaks and small sail boats.

Before, I could never understand how a paddler could get run over by a boat. I always figured that one could always move out of the way in time. My opinion of it changed this summer after hearing about a friend of the family whose little fishing boat was run over by a large powerboat. According to them, they were out fishing on a clear, calm day when they looked up just in time to see a large boat bearing down on them. They just had enough time to dive off the side of the boat before impact. They were fine but sadly the boat was quite damaged. It is schedule to go to court this fall.

So, how can we keep ourselves from getting hit on the water? The first thing is to be vigilant on the water. Watch the other boaters and assume that they can't see you. To be honest, the majority probably can't. They are big so it is easy for you to see them but a canoe or kayak is barely three feet out of the water. When there are medium swells and you are in the trough of the wave, you are even lower in the water. Keep that in mind.

Follow the rules of the road. Just because you are in a canoe or kayak doesn't mean that you need to follow the rules like everybody else. If possible, avoide the shipping channels since that is where the large boats are going to be.

Consider a radar reflector.  There are several different commercial models on the market with various levels of success. Basically they allow your boat to show up on the larger vessels radar system. The main draw back is that not all small or recreational boats use radar for navigation.

If you are paddling through navigational channels, you could consider a Collision Avoidance Radar Detector (C.A.R.D.) system. The C.A.R.D. system is a device that you mount on your boat that detects the presence of radar systems in your area. The monitor will tell you from which direction the radar system is coming from so you can take evasive action.

The drawback to the C.A.R.D system is that it is another electronic system to fail on your boat. It is built for a marine environment but not likely submersible so you will need to be careful with it around water. If you could develop a way to store it in a clear waterproof case, it might work better.

If you are doing extended night crossings, it might be something worth looking into.

Have you had experience with any of the devices above or have a tip to avoid a collision on the water? Let us know how they worked out by posting a comment below.

Related Articles:

• Harbour collision - top yacht club man fined
• Radar Reflectors and Sea Kayak Visibility
• Kayaker has a close call

 

Boing Boing posted a really interesting post about the psychology of risk-taking. A new survey by researchers at University of Michigan suggest that just because somebody will take part in risky behaviour, doesn't mean that they will be risk takers in other areas of life.

The researchers surveyed participants to see their participation level for several different types of risky business including exposing yourself to chemicals that might lead to birth defects for a high-paying job, engaging in unprotected sex or chasing a bear out of your wilderness campsite area while banging pots and pans.

They found that somebody might go skydiving (which is risky) but not stand up to an abusive boss (also risky). The research shows that not all risk is created equal and people show a mixture of both risky and non-risky behaviours in their daily lives.

The research seems to go against common theories of risk that group people as either risk-seeking or risk-avoiding, and suggests that we can have a mix of both risky and non-risky behaviour depending who you are and what situation you are in.

They also found (to no surprise) that men were higher risk takers then woman.

Press Release
Research Paper (pdf)

For those interested, there is a really interesting conversation going on over at playak.com related to paddling in electrical storms and the science behind it. Check it out here.

William Messenger from the great state of Washington, was out fishing when he ran into some trouble:

With his left hand stuck between a boat and a downed alder tree, William Messenger thought he was out of time, about to die in the frigid Wynoochee River. In a life-saving attempt, the fisherman grabbed a pocketknife and cut off his own two fingertips to escape the sinking drift-boat.

It seems that help was on it's way:

Messenger obviously felt trapped being in the sinking boat for at least 15 minutes, Vestal said, but police said he might have been able to survive without cutting his fingers off.

"Hindsight is 20-20. If he'd have known help was not that far away, he might have held off taking the steps that he did," said Rick Scott, Grays Harbor County undersheriff. "It's one thing to think about doing that, but it's another to actually execute the plan."

Whole story can be found here.

Liz Burnside sent me this great photo of my friends Erik and Conehead Sean. They are currently working on a new program to teach youngsters about the dangers of crossing shipping lanes. They figure that this will enable ship captains to see them better.

You can find this photo and more at www.seakayakontario.com