Poor judgement

Skills to match conditions

On Saturday we had a kayaking incident in Outer Cove not far from the capital St. John's. The media reported on it but provided few details except to say that one of two kayakers flipped, couldn't get back in their boat but managed to swim to shore. Both paddlers had on dry suits. Other than that, details are scanty.

The winds on the day were westerly 30 kms, gusting to 50.

I have no idea about the skill levels of these guys but one thing for certain is that they were unable to perform an assisted rescue. That might give some indication.

Spies in the area report that after the swimmer got ashore, the other towed the empty boat back to the put-in at Middle Cove 1.5 kms away.

I won't criticize the judgement of these guys that led up to the incident because there's insufficient information. I will say that the decision to paddle alone back to the put-in showed poor judgement. The return paddle would have been exposed to the westerly winds at the point between Outer Cove and Middle Cove.

At short walk to retrieve a vehicle from Middle Cove would have been the better call.