A couple of heaven credits

Yesterday was the last day of lingcod season.  Generally windy, white caps, at times 15-20 kts.  Seas 3 feet with occasional wind wave wakes larger.  At times it was a tough day to fish.

But, the fishing is irrelevant to the tale.

Launched near Richmond Beach, Shoreline, WA just before 10AM  and headed back about 3PM after the winds had much calmed.  Heading south around Wells Point noticed something odd in the water about 1/3 mile off the beach. From a mile away it was something white with a black dot.  I paid it little heed until I was about 1/2 mile away, then I saw orange.  It looked like a couple of kayaks but I only saw one paddle.  Decided to check it out.

It was a sailboarder down in the water and unable to get up in the relative calm.  His wife had seen him from their house and had come out in a short orange plastic SINK to bring him a paddle.  She was in a 2-piece bathing suit with no PFD and no leash on her own paddle.  The guy was in a light hoodless wetsuit.  He was cold.  I offered to tow him in, but he declined.  I hovered around until he got the sail rolled up on the board, got up on the board, and had started stroking toward shore.  As I escorted them in, he went back in the water once, but eventually made it to shore.

On shore I put on the wheels and dragged the boat up the beach.  I was tired.  A couple 30-something guys in slacks, shirts, and loafers walked up to me, and pointing, asked what I thought "that" was out in the water.  About 3/4 mile out a weird curved structure and a short black pillar jutted out of the water.  The guys said it had been out there about an hour.  I hadn't seen it on in the way in as I had been concentrating closer to shore at the stranded sailboarder.  Through a pair of binoculars someone handed me, it was a guy trying to get back on his kite board.  He looked stranded, tangled, and was drifting south.  I had noticed him earlier in the day when the wind was whipping and he looked like he was having a great time.

I pulled the milk crate off the kayak, dropped the wheels and a guy helped me carry it to the water where I set off at 4+ kts on a rescue voyage.  When I got out to him his kite was acting like a scimitar-shaped sail pulling him south.  He was in a light, hoodless wetsuit, teeth chattering, with a tangle of lines on the board.  My plan was to tow him in, but in dealing with the sailboarder I had pulled my short line out of the mesh pocket, then just tossed it in the milk crate when it was clear I would not need it.  I had left the milkcrate behind.  He was going to have to get onboard.

We were drifting farther and farther from my launch point.  He was not clear on where he wanted to go, the launch beach or the park.  He deflated his kite and bunched it up as best he could and we piled it on the back of the Revo13.  The lines tangled in my lashed paddle and rudder and needed to be cleared.  It was wet and had some folds filled with some water.  It was heavy.  The board went on top.  The boat got tippy.  I had the guy, Ryan, about 30, mount the stern from straight back to avoid tipping.  Luckily he wasn't 6'4" and 250 lbs.  More like 5'11" and 160 lbs.  But still, we were wallowing and very tippy.  In retrospect I should have put him on the bow, but once he was up I didn't want to ask him to go back in the cold water.  If he had fallen off, I would have had him move to the bow or used my paddle leash on the anchor pulley to tow him on his board. 

With all the weight behind the boat's normal center of gravity, the bow was up, the seat and live well were awash, and I could just keep 2 kts.  The wind and waves almost dumped us a few times.  It was a long, tiring, tippy trip in.  I had him hop off when we were close to shore and he could stand.  Thankfully, a couple guys helped carry the boat back up the beach, where I stripped it of the heavy stuff, then they helped me get it up the 5' bulkhead.  Water could be heard sloshing inside.  It must have come in the rudder line passthroughs and/or the crotch hatch when awash.  At home I sponged out a gallon, maybe a bit more. 

Hopefully I'll get much needed heaven credits for my good deeds.

The lesson is clear.  Both these guys had been in the water at least an hour.  Without their wetsuits they would have been in a world of hurt in the 50F-something water.  If the functionally naked wife of the sailboarder had dumped or swamped her kayak trying to rescue her husband she would have been in even worse shape. 

Great job!!!!!!!  It's always scary because when you deal with people in that type of situation, you never quite know how they are going to react. 

Now that I am going out more with two kayaks, I have started carrying a short rope for towing and any other uses.  Probably should continue to carry one in case something like this happens...or I need to be towed in.

You definitely got a few credits here!  Way to get'it DONE!!!!

Bigtime kudos Demonick. They were lucky to have you around. Great job!

Well deserved Hero of the day award!!

Nice work, Rob

You caught some flack recently for being part of the "safety police" (undeservedly, IMO). These incidents illustrate exactly why trying to educate small craft users should be part of NWKA's "mission" - none of us wants to be a witness to a needless tragedy. Thank you for doing more than your part Demonick. The world needs more people like you.

And two guys lived to enjoy fathers day today!
Nice work Demonick!

Nice work Demonic!  Hope these guys and those that saw it learned their lessons.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

Great work, hope you're having a well deserved restful Father's Day!

Thank you for doing the right thing.

Good thing you were there!  Way to go, Demonick.

Nice job dude. I might have thrown out the line from 1983's comedy classic Vacation on the second guy.

Mechanic 2: Ain't never seen anyone so shit-all stupid as you driving off that road. You musta got manure for your brains.
Clark: Yeah, well, we're from out of town. How much do I owe you?
Mechanic 1: How much you got?
Clark: No, I'm asking how much the repairs are.
Mechanic 1: And I'm asking how much you got!
Clark: You're out of your mind. Look, I don't have time to fool around so how much is it?
Mechanic 1: [waving a wrench] All of it, boy!

Demonick ... major KUDOS to you!!!

-Allen

Good on you Demonick

Thanks for the kudos, but the alternative was turning one's back on another's distress and I'm sure any one of us would have done the same. 

I just hope they learned their lesson.  I didn't get to talk to the sailboarder to ask how he got into his predicament, and why he didn't just use the board like a surfboard and hand paddle in. 

The kite boarder said he kept going out to stay in the wind stream and got becalmed.  He just stopped paying attention to where he was.  He also said it was not the first time he had been becalmed.

I wouldn't be surprised if somewhere out there on the internet,  there are a couple of guys posting on a sailboard and kite board forum about this man in a kayak and his kind act. 
 Good Karma owes you Big Time !!!