Doboy Dawg
Senior Member
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Missing Kayaker
- Thread starter Doboy Dawg
- Start date
GunnSmokeer
Senior Member
That's not good.
We had a 55 year old Chinese guy from Marietta drown in Lake Lanier on memorial day weekend and his decomposing body just floated to the surface a couple days ago.
He dropped his paddle in the water and swam off of his kayak to retrieve it. (witnesses saw that part). This was on calm water, in good weather!)
I don't actually wear my PFD when I'm kayaking because the vest chafes my armpits. I'm an excellent swimmer and fat enough to float like a cork anyway without any effort!
But I know the risks I'm bearing; my choice of comfort leaves me vulnerable to drowning if I'm hit by a renegade boat or if I happen to have a stroke, muscle spasms, or heart attack while I'm out paddling.
We had a 55 year old Chinese guy from Marietta drown in Lake Lanier on memorial day weekend and his decomposing body just floated to the surface a couple days ago.
He dropped his paddle in the water and swam off of his kayak to retrieve it. (witnesses saw that part). This was on calm water, in good weather!)
I don't actually wear my PFD when I'm kayaking because the vest chafes my armpits. I'm an excellent swimmer and fat enough to float like a cork anyway without any effort!
But I know the risks I'm bearing; my choice of comfort leaves me vulnerable to drowning if I'm hit by a renegade boat or if I happen to have a stroke, muscle spasms, or heart attack while I'm out paddling.
GunnSmokeer
Senior Member
I always thought that if I were out on any very large lake or on the ocean beach both my vessel and my lifevest should have a telescoping light weight rod with a bright colored flag on the end that I could wave for help... something that would stick up above the swells & waves.
A Man sitting upright in a kayak is pretty tall, but a man in the water, or a kayak in the water without a man, is a very short little thing that could be very difficult to see, especially if the bystanders / possible rescuers are physically low to the water either swimming or on small vessels like kayaks or canoes or surfboards.
A Man sitting upright in a kayak is pretty tall, but a man in the water, or a kayak in the water without a man, is a very short little thing that could be very difficult to see, especially if the bystanders / possible rescuers are physically low to the water either swimming or on small vessels like kayaks or canoes or surfboards.
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Rabun
Senior Member
Memorial Day....wouldn’t want to be the one discovering that. Glad there’s closure for the family RIP
Coenen
Senior Member
I'll bite.
It turns out they make more than one kind. Shop around and find one that you'll actually wear. Spending $100 for a quality PFD that you'll wear is nothing relative to something really expensive, like a funeral. In an actual emergency the odds that you have the luxury of donning your vest before you're in the water are slight.
Every safety measure you mentioned, top end PFD included can be purchased or DIY'd and installed on your boat for under $200. Take your own advice. You're worth it.
Truth here, I bought a fishing PFD that works for me. It’s always on in the yak and so second nature it stays on if I get out wade fishing.
Batjack
Cap`n Jack 1313
From the fish and the Alpha flag, it looks like he was spear fishing so PFD is out of the picture for now. Lots of things can happen when spear fishing... make a non lethal shot on huge fish and be tied to or get tangled in your line, have a stringer of fish tied to you and get it grabbed by a Goliath Grouper or Bull Shark, be grabbed by a Goliath or Bull... etc. I'm wondering why they covered the seat with a trash bag.
Rabun
Senior Member
Latest update I could find
Ain't no sharks in Lanier.
Dub
Senior Member
Yep. If I'm in my yak I'm wearing a PFD even if the yak is scraping bottom.
