respect the ocean 2. MY experience
 

OK so this happened yesterday and after just reading momo fish's post I feel like I have no one to blame but myself. It's funny how easy it is to have a "it won't happen to me" attitude until you're in a bad situation. This is the second time I ended up in the drink in less then 2 weeks after a solid 3 years with no incidents. This experience was quite a bit more sobering than my spill in the surf last Sunday.

So I decided to drive down to la jolla for a late afternoon session after picking my daughter up from class. The wave forecast was 1' and wind at 8am was 3 knts. Super hot day andi just wanted to be on the water. By 1 PM when I got to the shores the wind had picked up pretty good and i could tell that getting to the zone would be easy. Getting back would be a b*tch. Paddled through the ankle slappers and started heading for the kelp. Was taking a good amount of wind chop over the side of my hull but didn't pay it any mind. Been in a lot worse. Sun is shining, it's hot. The wind and splash feels good. It's not the only thing that's bothering me is how hard it is to steer and keep pointed straight. It's not until I was well past the boundary buy that I started to notice how sluggish my kayak feels and I'm definitely listing to one side. I open my center hatch to see what the issue is andi hear it. The steady running faucet of water pouring into my hull. I look back behind me and confirm that my drain plug never got screwed back in after my last outing. I've taken on enough water that the back end of my kayak is now under water and I can't reach that now submerged plug. Think think think. The only other vessels on the water are 2 dive boats. One in the center of the kelp forest, the other on the far out skirts of the kelp. I'll never make it back to the launch in the condition I'm in and the kelp will actual help keep me afloat, so I started my paddle towards the first boat to hail assistance. It this point I figure it would be a good time to turn on my vhf that is strapped to my pfd in case I need to hail the boat or send a mayday. Battery is dead. Shit.

I make the paddle to the first boat to find that no one is home. The occupants are in the water and I don't know how long till they are up. I made the decision to not wait around and headed out towards the second dive boat on the outskirts. After what seemed like an eternity of paddling I got within 100 yards of the boat when they fired up their engines and went to take off. F*ck. I remembered my whistle clipped to my vest and let off 3 short bursts. Pause. One long whistle. Pause. 3 short bursts, all while waving my paddle. The boat does a u turn. I got within ear shot and yelled thati needed assistance and was taking on water. I got along side the boat and one kid plugged my drain plug for me. Because of all the water in my hull my tail end was sitting extremely low. When I opened the center hatch it looked like there was no water to pump because it was all to the rear. The boat owner said he didn't know what he could do about getting the water out and asked if I felt comfortable paddling back in on my own. I thought about it for a second and rationalized that I wouldn't take on more water, my paddle back would be slow but I don't have any other options. Even ifi hada pump I can't reach where the water is. I gave the dive guys to ok to leave and committed to paddling back. The boat took off and as soon as I left the protection of the kelp and the choppy water immediately capsized me. The rod holder I temporarily fixed immediately ripped out of the hull and opened an apple sized hole in my hull letting in A LOT of water. My kayak is now upside down under water with whatever air bubbles trapped inside keeping it from completely sinking. I started laying on my whistle again but lucky the boat saw this all go down and was returning. We got a rope around the nose handle of my kayak and i swam up on the swimstep of the boat and took a minute to catch my wind. We pulled my yak around and got it up on the swim step and bailed all the water out. I shoved a water bottle into the hole where the flush Mount used to be temporarily sealing that off, did a full inspection on the rest of my yak to make sure there was no other issues, took another minute to drink some water, catch my breath and prepare for my paddle in. The boat owner wanted to take me in to mission Bay but I assured him that was up to the paddle back, that my kayak could make it and with the hull plugged up this wasa very seaworthy yak. It took me about an hour anda half to get back to the launch without incident. Easy landing, packed up and headed home.

I learned a few things yesterday.

There is no such thing as being too prepared.
A checklist of all emergency equipment and things like plug the drain before getting on the water, charge vhf, etc. is a must.
Have a buddy with you.

I made some pretty foolish mistakes in being unprepared but the things i will take credit for is wearing my pfd with my emergency whistle attached and keeping my cool. Without that whistle I would not have been able to get that boats attention

I'm unspeakably grateful for the captain of the Whitey and his assistance yesterday. If there was no one to hail down I probably would have ended up bobbing in the ocean making an emergency call for vessel assist on my phone. Which i had locked inside of 2 ziplocks in a pocket of my pfd.

Do not think that this could not happen to you. Before yesterday I thought I was prepared for anything. I'll be installing a bilge system this week. And buying a hand pump. And fishing with a buddy

I always have a hand pump and people look at me strange when I'm loading it in even for a harbor trip. Thing is the time you don't have it might be the time u new it! Glad your ok

I know you had a thousand things running through your mind but did you ever consider jumping in the water and installing the plug yourself?

I did think of that but at the time it was not a life or death situation. The damage had been done and when I got on top of the kelp it lifted my tail enough that I was not taking more water.

Do you have a PA, what kind of kayak do you have? If* you had a hand pump it would not of worked, interested to know what kind of kayak you have.

I have a feel free moken 14

Dude! Will! Crazy story. Glad you're OK.

I have not removed my drain plug since I bought my trident 15. What little water gets into my kayak, I just use those big huge home depot painter sponges to squeeze it out. I would marine goop all the areas that water can get into, and reinforce the seal on the bigger hatches. Then you don't have to worry about it the drain plug so much.

Upon further consideration...If I had a pump I could have exited the kayak, installed the plug, pulled down on the nose of the yak to re distribute the water to the front and then pumped it out. Thank you for catching that. These were my thoughts asi had then on the water yesterday and now I know better and will be picking up a pump before I go out again

I carry way too much crap...a hand bilge pump being one of them. I've never used in on my yak.....but I always feel like a hero when someone is bogged down and taking on water. If one feels that a pump is too much to lug around, toss in an extra section of 3/4" hose and a few zip ties, the bait tank makes an excellent bilge pump and 6 feet of hose will reach the back of your yak, the plus side is great, water pumping out as you get to fish.

This brings a questions to mind: Anyone know how long hand pumps are good for? Last you thing you want is for your hand pump to break on you when you really need it. I remember reading a post a while back where he got filled with water, and he started pumping water so fast, it broke.

Ya Will, straddling the kayak and moving toward the bow would give you access to get all the water out. through the years I have had long stretches of carrying a hand pump and not. Right now it is along every trip. These are great posts to share and learn from. I have never flipped in open water, but a couple weeks ago a sealion pup tried to climb aboard from the side and scared the shit out of me as nothing was lashed down. I had my i phone out, no rods leashed, my good camera.............not life threatening but freaked me out as to how expensive it could have been.

I'm sure that depends on how it's stored. I had a shrimp pump that I stored in my yard behind the stairs. Didn't even last a season before the seals were shot.

In this situation I don't think i could have straddled up the hull. Not in open water anyway. With the chop and how unstable the
Kayak was from beyond swamped I could barely sit in the seat. Possibly in the kelp? Either way I'll be picking one up in the next few days

Sorry to hear of your troubles glad your Ok. Good thing the rapewhistle worked out for ya..Some people arent so lucky.. Myself included..Ive tried to hail up a passer by with the whistle in the past and sometimes even a small outboard can overpower the whistle otw. Ive have had to help countless people over the years from taking on water due to drain plugs, scupper hole issues, gaskets, hatches, ect and one thing that has helped speed up rescue, is not clamping/gooping my bilge pump to my livewell. When someone is in need, I quickly detatch my hose and plug the pump into their center hatch or stern and expell over the side or into scuppers, while also using a hand bilge pump as backup..be ready..

Glad you made it out in one piece...again!

Here's my thread about the bilge pump I installed on my stealth again, just in case you haven't already seen it.

http://www.bigwatersedge.com/bwevb/s...+bilge+pump%5C

Omg will. That sounds scary as heck and already giving me flashbacks. Thank god your ok and other boats in area to help. You have more balls than me as I would of taken the ride back to avoid any further issues. Let us know how the pump setup goes as I have been tinkering with mine to see how to convert bait tank to pump water out.

Glad you're ok Will. A good reminder that I need to carry my pump. If for no other reason than to help others.

Been saved by the bilge pump on my kayak on more than a couple of outings. A hand held bilge pump approx $15-$20 would've kept you out fishing.

Everything could've been lost. Stay safe.

I agree with the other poster about NOT removing the drain plug. Screw in, screw out, over time the plastic won't seal anymore thus causing leakage or worse. My drain plugs are sealed with 5200.

Time to reconsider about the importance of private boaters when you have a situation as described. Some guys really bash them....not me.