Rescue at Simply Fishing 2018

I am sure most of the participants at Simply Fishing heard the radio talk about the rescue. This is my version and the others can chime in with their own. The day started for me leaving the Bay Area super early in the morning so I can make the 5:30 AM check in.

Arrived at Ocean Cove and found Ruben checking in folks and I picked up my goodie bag.  I told him I wasn't participating and disqualify me. This turned out to be a blessing. My Hobie Mirage drive and FF/GPS combo turned out as essentials this day.  I drove over to Timber Cove to meet Lilriverman and his rookie buddy.  They weren't around so I launched at first light with a good number of other kayakers.

I made my way north about half way to Stillwater Cove. Suddenly I heard a voice call my name.  "Hey Mel"  I was happy to see Raydon and Eelkram (Mark) together.  We fished together for a while and I was drifting back to TC.

Then Raydon calls out on his radio that his kayak was taking water.  A few minutes later Mark (Eelkram) broadcasts they need assistance. I cleared my gear and pedaled fast towards them. I was surprised to see Raydon in the water.  It turned out he couldn't pump water out fast enough and his Eddyline was sinking.

Mark already had a tow rope tied to his kayak and to Raydon's yak.  I pulled out my own tow rope and threw it out to Raydon. At first I tried towing Raydon behind my Revo 13 but this wasn't working.  I could not steer, he was acting like a large drift sock.

It was decided to pump water out on Ray's yak just to keep it barely afloat and he would hold on at the stern.  I would tow him back to Ocean Cove and Mark would paddle next to Ray to make sure he was OK.  Ray had a drysuit on and was OK for the time being.

Every once in a while Mark or Ray would pump water out on the Eddyline and we would resume our trip to OC.
After about 30 minutes our progress was slower than we expected and decided to put in at Stillwater Cove.
We kept checking on Ray if he was getting cold and he gave thumbs up everytime. 

We directly were in front of SWN when a NCKA member hailed a private boat to come to our help.  We had the boater go on stand by mode because we were already inside the cove.

When we were close to the beach, Mark instructed me to release my tow rope and he would guide Raydon in.  Mark and I were first to get to beach and assisted Ray.  His legs had gone numb and so we both helped him get out of the water.

He was fine in a few minutes and was pretty normal.  Then Mark told me Ray was in the water for over a hour. I had lost my sense of time and my legs were sore from hard pedalling to stay underway.  A lady (sorry forgot her name) came to take Ray to OC but forgot to bring straps. Ray left and came back with Hojoman to load his kayak.

Mark and I walked back to the beach and took a short break.  We launched at the same time. I headed south to TC and Mark went north. 

I ran into Lilriverman and his rookie friend.  Pretty soon I was fortunate to land a nice 36 inch Ling and headed in.
Then it was party time and potluck at Simply Fishing.

Way to go Mel and Mark!

So glad you guys were closeby to help out our dear friend Raydon.

I saw him later that day and he was all smiles as usual 

Love that guy! 

Great job brothers!

Good job with the rescue!  But why was the Eddyline taking on water? 

In general I think that sit-on-top kayaks are safer than sit-inside kayaks, because if you flip a sit-on-top kayak you can usually just right it, climb back on top, and keep paddling.  If you tip over a sit-inside kayak and fill it up with water, it's a lot harder to recover away from shore, and it usually takes assistance from a couple other kayakers.  But an advantage of sit-inside kayaks is that if you fill one with water, it's easier to pull it up on top of a couple of other kayaks, flip it over, and drain the water out of the cockpit.  It's harder to drain out a sit-on-top kayak in this manner.  Would it have been feasible to remove the fishing gear mounted on the Eddyline it and flip it over on top of a couple other kayaks to drain it?

Thanks for sharing this, Mel.  Great job, guys! 

Strong work guys

It's impressive that everyone handled the situation so well. Glad that it turned out OK.

So, what was the cause of the leak?

Glad everyone is ok.  Great teamwork guys!

The lady is Ruben's wife Jennifer.

Glad everyone's OK.
Great job Mel and Mark!

It's impressive that everyone handled the situation so well. Glad that it turned out OK.

So, what was the cause of the leak?

Ya! What leaked!?!?!?

It's impressive that everyone handled the situation so well. Glad that it turned out OK.

So, what was the cause of the leak?

Ya! What leaked!?!?!?

When raydon came back to oc he had said that the small rear hatch behind the seat may have not been closed all the way. The extra weight of that big ling he had in the tankwell was just enough weight to put the edge of the hatch under the water line.

Nice work everyone!  Glad you're ok Raydon!

that's crazy...glad everything worked out...good job on the rescue.

Raydon is awesome and glad he is okay 

Glad everyone is ok. 

 Strong Work,

  Reading this,, it amazes me,,,

  this would have quite possibly killed 3 people,

if not that all 3 were veteran kayak fishermen, were prepared, kept their cool 


  I think we ALL can celebrate that this site and all of our sharing of information and care for each other,,,

 just kept 3 brethren together to fish again and make all of us proud,,,


  well done sirs,

  only critic ,,, an hour in hypothermic water would have me concerned about Raydon going to the hospital for observation ,,,

 but who wants to miss a party !!! 

  Fucking Awesome,