Pacific City Kayakers Rescued Two Weeks Ago--A Few Details

I made the two hour drive to PC on Saturday and learned the difference between a West swell and a NW swell. Only three dories were on the water and I saw 6 choose to wait for another day. Not having personal experience with how the waves change in this location as the tide recedes with a W swell, I chose not to launch.

While on the beach I spoke with a photographer who takes pics of the dories every weekend and she mentioned the kayakers rescued a couple of weeks ago. She knows the captain of the dory that did the rescue and was on the beach when they returned. Here are a few details:

--Two kayakers West of the rock
--One dressed in waders, the other in shorts, both had life jackets
--They had a VHF, but lost it when one or both went in the water
--The guy in shorts had been in the water and was very cold, likely hypothermic
--They were unable to paddle in against the offshore wind
--Only two dories were on the water when they got rescued

Thanks for the follow-up! 

This is definitely a Teachable Moment.

-Mark-

I love learning from situations like this so that I'm never in that situation.

So they couldn't paddle against the wind, and weren't dressed for immersion -- that makes sense.  I do wonder what the wind MPH were though that they couldn't paddle against.

The big question I have is the influence of the swell from NW (the norm?) to W swell.  How does that affect you?

Kudos to you for not going out Saturday. I was packed and loaded for PC and went a different direction as well.

It was tough not to launch, particularly as I didn't have time to hit another location and I've launched in similar conditions where I 'knew' the location better.

With the swells almost directly from the West at PC, the point doesn't protect the North end of the beach from the swells. Surfers were in the line up where I typically launch. Getting out wouldn't have been a problem, but I would have taken whitewater over the whole boat (Revo13). The breaks between sets were unpredictable for the half hour I watched, and while I may have been comfortable coming in through the surf in my previous boats (ScupperPro with thigh straps, sit in Looksha) broaching with a high brace, I'm not there with the Hobie.

Thanks for the info. It's good to have some on-the-sand confirmation. I was judging based on the webcam from home at dawn.

Ended up heading to Depoe Bay. A bit more wind than expected but otherwise it was about as forecasted.

Good info.  I was down there last Thursday night and fri morning. And decided to surf rather than fish even though the ling bite has been insane.  Friday morning one of the dory guys almost sunk on the launch and luckily made it back to shore.  There were 2 swells working one west and another with a touch of south.  No protection in the cove whatsoever.

Glad to hear those 2 guys were rescued.  It does pay to be nice to the dory guys though.  They can and will save your bacon if need be. 

Getting out wouldn't have been a problem, but I would have taken whitewater over the whole boat (Revo13). The breaks between sets were unpredictable for the half hour I watched, and while I may have been comfortable coming in through the surf in my previous boats (ScupperPro with thigh straps, sit in Looksha) broaching with a high brace, I'm not there with the Hobie.

I'm a whitewater kayaker, and feel a lot more comfortable paddling my Revolution in big waves and surf when I'm wearing thigh straps.  It's easy to add thigh straps to a Revolution - I clip the back of the thigh straps to the padeyes by the front corners of the rear cargo area, and I clip the front of the thigh straps to stainless steel padeyes I bolted to the foot ledges on the side of the cockpit.

Thigh straps obviously don't work when you're pedaling.  But if I'm out on the water and the wind comes up and the waves start breaking, or when I'm going through surf, I pull up my Mirage Drive, clip in my thigh straps, and start paddling.

Extremely fortunate that the dory was even coming back by the rock after a less than normally productive day on the reef. The bulk of the dory traffic follows the buoy line to the north side of the rock and back to the beach. Use a solid connection between your submersible VHF and your PFD.

I made the two hour drive to PC on Saturday and learned the difference between a West swell and a NW swell. Only three dories were on the water and I saw 6 choose to wait for another day. Not having personal experience with how the waves change in this location as the tide recedes with a W swell, I chose not to launch.

While on the beach I spoke with a photographer who takes pics of the dories every weekend and she mentioned the kayakers rescued a couple of weeks ago. She knows the captain of the dory that did the rescue and was on the beach when they returned. Here are a few details:

--Two kayakers West of the rock
--One dressed in waders, the other in shorts, both had life jackets
--They had a VHF, but lost it when one or both went in the water
--The guy in shorts had been in the water and was very cold, likely hypothermic
--They were unable to paddle in against the offshore wind
--Only two dories were on the water when they got rescued

Good decision DARice. We've been talking about the incident.
http://www.northwestkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=17247.msg185533#msg185533
Thanks for the update.

I definitely want to get some thigh straps for my Cobra F&D. Having done my share of surf exits, I'm sure it would help me keep my balance. 

I love learning from situations like this so that I'm never in that situation.

So they couldn't paddle against the wind, and weren't dressed for immersion -- that makes sense.  I do wonder what the wind MPH were though that they couldn't paddle against.

The big question I have is the influence of the swell from NW (the norm?) to W swell.  How does that affect you?

You're missing the picture.  Do a search on "go/no go" for a more complete discussion of wind and waves but in nutshell: the wind was offshore pushing into the waves regardless of their direction.  That shortens the amplitude of the waves - makes them steeper - and combining the weathervane effects from the wind and choppy waves, it would be much more difficult for an inexperienced kayaker to navigate.

Here's the original post of this incident with more details about thee conditions at the time they were hauled back to shore:
http://www.northwestkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=17247.0

Also, close to hypothermia any distance could be too far regardless of conditions.

I was out in my dory that day but didn't encounter the kayakers.  There was very little swell that day.  But there was a LOT of offshore (blowing from the land to the sea) wind.  Offshore wind is deceptive because it doesn't seem so bad on the beach in the shelter of the shoreline bluffs. 

But once you get out on the water a half-mile out, the full force of the wind hits. It was blowing between 20 and 25 knots that morning.   Whereas the water looks flat on the beach, the chop builds higher as you go offshore.

I'm sure the paddlers got into trouble some distance from the beach against the full force of the wind and the building chop. 

I'm glad another doryman ( I think it was a yellow fiberglass dory) was there to help.  Dorymen are generally quite fond of the kayaking community and it would be awful to lose someone. 

I'm in the red and white wood dory (gray trim) named Evenstar.  Be sure to say hello if you see me out there.

That's a good name for a dory. Thanks for keeping an eye out for us!

Fred "True" Trujillo