Footage shows the moments minutes before a kayaker died in a tough swell

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8358101/Long-Beach-death-Jeremy-Worthys-final-moments-sea-near-Batemans-Bay-revealed-footage.html

Anyone else feel like there are a lot of strange details in this story? Not being sure, all respects to the angler and his family/friends...RIP.

That said, shore was in sight, was there no pull out opportunities due to cliffs?

What was going on with the currents and tide that made his return so challenging?

If he was able to post a video of his final moments, why not contact CG?

Wasn’t he wearing a PFD? Not that doing so ensures one cannot drown, just seems crazy that his body was found “moments after the video was posted”

Your thoughts?

Anyone else feel like there are a lot of strange details in this story? Not being sure, all respects to the angler and his family/friends...RIP.

That said, shore was in sight, was there no pull out opportunities due to cliffs?

What was going on with the currents and tide that made his return so challenging?

If he was able to post a video of his final moments, why not contact CG?

Wasn’t he wearing a PFD? Not that doing so ensures one cannot drown, just seems crazy that his body was found “moments after the video was posted”

Your thoughts?

Totally agree with all of that.  Honestly this just seems to come down to unpreparedness and what seems like beginners inexperience.  He posted videos earlier in the day fishing, and the wind was already far worse than what I would ever launch into, plus very steep swell.  No wetsuit and he was mentioning the wet cold water in the video... Lots of small things that could have made this a very different story.  Maybe with a PFD and wetsuit he could have stuck it out and paddled closer to bail in the surf zone and float in, but we will not know unfortunately. 

Now, that said, another great idea is an ACR PLB. I recently bought one for my solo boating adventures, but take it kayaking, mountainbiking, and pretty much anywhere things can get hairy and I may need help from SAR services.  For 300 dollars, I can call in for rescue and be damn sure it will be there and people will know about me regardless if im alive or dead.  Someone is coming and tracking me as long as I press that button.  After 5 years, if I don't need to use it (Lord willing), I pay a small fee, and get a new battery for it and I'm good for another 5 years. If I do use it to save my life, they will give me a new one at no cost.

For $60 bucks a year you can get some of the best insurance there is for when shit hits the fan and you need HELP!

anyway yeah.. this is a weird story for sure and extremely tragic it ended this way... Hopefully people can really take safety and internalize it as the sport grows at an increasing rate. I hope we see these incidents go down rather than increase.

EDIT: Here is a link to the PLB I purchased. I am not affiliated to the store or company, I just happened to order from here. https://www.thegpsstore.com/ACR-2921-ResQLink-400-PLB-Floating-Personal-Locator-Beacon-P5927.aspx?gclid=Cj0KCQjwn7j2BRDrARIsAHJkxmz-Rl2LpQI_kVNhb02KIoPmjxkj5bo5HyMoj-1Iyw-oia19NoMjujkaAtUUEALw_wcB

Looks like he's wearing an inflatable PFD? Maybe it  malfunctioned or he couldn't deploy it fast enough.
water temp with no wet/dry suit though....
tragic outcome. RIP.

Looks like he's wearing an inflatable PFD? Maybe it  malfunctioned or he couldn't deploy it fast enough.
water temp with no wet/dry suit though....
tragic outcome. RIP.

I looked again and youre right, its a manual inflation type 1 PFD

Sad story.

That yak doesn't look like an ocean boat.  Not trying to second guess this guy or be callous, but people who look at this should get some meaningful feedback.  I could be wrong - can't see it well.

I agree with Bushy.

I watched about 35 seconds of the video. My judgement?  Guy is was a fucking idiot!!  Taking time to video himself and post on Facebook?  But not calling rescue? He shoulda called an SOS (on his vhf radio. oops he didn't have one?) on his phone, dumped the rod and the cooler, and rode downwind to land wherever he could...  Conditions really don't look that bad in the video. No worse than San Pablo Bay.....

Sorry but Darwin Award for this guy....

Bushy

"Play stupid games, win stupid prizes." 

I looked up the water temperature for Batemans Bay for Sunday.  The conversion from Celcius shows it to be 66* average.  A different website presented a range of 55* to 66* for Sunday.  So, at the worst, it was the same temperature as our waters. 

As you guys said, he's dead because he was stupid for all the reasons stated.  Too bad for his family and friends.

fail to plan,plan to fail.

always have plan B