A dumbass move followed by a skunk - and still a nice day!

1. The kayaker assisting me was a beginner who had rented his boat. He was having difficulty just leaning and putting weight on my kayak without falling in himself. He wouldn't have been able to deal with a water-filed upside down kayak across his deck

.

Switch positions.

2. My kayak has flotation bags fore and aft, so there is no room to stash my one-piece rod inside.

Hold onto it or put it on the rescuers kayak.

3. I have a rod holder installed near the bow. It would have hung up on his deck and prevented me from sliding my boat any further.

Remove it.

Switch positions? I'm pretty sure a complete stranger wouldn't jump in the 50 degree water so I could get on his kayak.
Yes, I could have handed him the rod and net, but I was already halfway done pumping by the time he came along.
I don't know if I could remove that rod holder while I was in the water. It takes some serious pounding to remove on land.

I do appreciate the suggestions. It gives people alternatives to think about.

  How well does that anchor work and where can I get one?

             

Good to hear you made it out OK man. That's scary stuff.
I've heard stories of those WS drainplugs leaking even when fully screwed-in.

With another kayaker on a steady kayak there is an easier way to go about this depending how much crap you have stored inside your kayak.
I know this from rescuing others.
Open the front hatch.
Roll the kayak upside down.
Have the person on the steady kayak lift the bow as you gently push down on the stern (this helps bring the bow up a bit).
The person on the steady kayak places the tip of the bow on his kayak.
As soon as the front hatch clears the water just a tiny bit it will start to drain. It only needs a little gap between the hatch and water to start to drain. It is a slow process at first because of how heavy the kayak is. The draining actually picks up momentum as the kayak becomes lighter because more of it can be lifted out of the water. Just keep sliding the bow higher onto the rescuing kayak.
It will not drain the kayak completely, but it will remove enough water so the kayak will be manageable.
If there is gear inside the kayak then remove it and stow it in the tankwell of the stable kayak before you roll the kayak upside down..

What you are describing is known as a "T rescue" and is something I teach in my basic skills and surf and recovery classes at MBK.If you all don't know this recovery technique take a class or at least google it, learn it and practice with a friend close to shore on a calm day.Please take the time to learn and practice this recovery.

I've told Eric, our Confluence (WS) rep about the location of the drain plug and haven't seen any changes yet.  I think it's really cost prohibitive to change a mold once they've been established, but WS really should change the location of the drain plug.

 Glad you're OK!

Wow dude

Thank god you got through it.
I have never taken my plug out of my WS 160i, and don't see the need to, but I will check it in the future for sure.

question, do most of you remove yours and if so why?
I have never had more than a cup of water in my WS even on days with swells over 10'. I suppose on the occasion that I did get swamped, I would need to remove it once on shore, but thus far have never seen the need to remove it.

Am I missing something?

Stoggie

Wow dude

Thank god you got through it.
I have never taken my plug out of my WS 160i, and don't see the need to, but I will check it in the future for sure.

question, do most of you remove yours and if so why?
I have never had more than a cup of water in my WS even on days with swells over 10'. I suppose on the occasion that I did get swamped, I would need to remove it once on shore, but thus far have never seen the need to remove it.

Am I missing something?

Stoggie

I rarely use the drain plug, which is why I forgot to put it back in. The T160 rarely gets more water in it than a sponge can clean out. After storing it outside all winter, it had about half an inch of water in it. Not sure where it came from. I'm considering cementing the plug in. The inconvenience of sponging out water doesn't compare to the inconvenience of getting a boat full of water. I sometimes take that boat over a mile offshore. If it happened out there, it could have been a major disaster.

With another kayaker on a steady kayak there is an easier way to go about this depending how much crap you have stored inside your kayak.
I know this from rescuing others.
Open the front hatch.
Roll the kayak upside down.
Have the person on the steady kayak lift the bow as you gently push down on the stern (this helps bring the bow up a bit).
The person on the steady kayak places the tip of the bow on his kayak.
As soon as the front hatch clears the water just a tiny bit it will start to drain. It only needs a little gap between the hatch and water to start to drain. It is a slow process at first because of how heavy the kayak is. The draining actually picks up momentum as the kayak becomes lighter because more of it can be lifted out of the water. Just keep sliding the bow higher onto the rescuing kayak.
It will not drain the kayak completely, but it will remove enough water so the kayak will be manageable.
If there is gear inside the kayak then remove it and stow it in the tankwell of the stable kayak before you roll the kayak upside down..

What you are describing is known as a "T rescue" and is something I teach in my basic skills and surf and recovery classes at MBK.If you all don't know this recovery technique take a class or at least google it, learn it and practice with a friend close to shore on a calm day.Please take the time to learn and practice this recovery.

I've told Eric, our Confluence (WS) rep about the location of the drain plug and haven't seen any changes yet.  I think it's really cost prohibitive to change a mold once they've been established, but WS really should change the locatuion of the drain plug.

 Glad you're OK!

I have practiced the T rescue many times. I agree that it should be practiced along with self rescue techniques. When I'm the one doing the rescue, or another experienced kayaker does it, it works fine. In this case, the rescuer was a visitor with unknown skill levels on a tiny rental yak. There were also fishing equipment issues that would cause complications. I think we might have had two people in the water if we tried a T rescue. In this case, I had to go for a "P" rescue ("pump your ass off"). I could be wrong, but I think it was the safer way to go in this case.

Sounds like you did the right thing...didn't know the guy was on a tiny rental could have had no experience.

We had a hatch cover implode on one of our closed-deck doubles during training and the tandem WS Northstar took on so much water it became too heavy to T rescue.Sometimes the pump is the only way.

I've told Eric, our Confluence (WS) rep about the location of the drain plug and haven't seen any changes yet.  I think it's really cost prohibitive to change a mold once they've been established, but WS really should change the locatuion of the drain plug.

you may want to let the rep know though that I have bought 2 yaks since my first WS and both were not WS specifically because of the drain plug location.  Threads like this will only further that drift.

Glad you are OK Ganoderma.  Brass ones to keep fishing

WS Tarpon......the new Ford Pinto 

I've told Eric, our Confluence (WS) rep about the location of the drain plug and haven't seen any changes yet.

Maybe suggest an inexpensive retro-fit.

This thread made me curious, so I took the plug out (just hanging by it's dongle) of my T160 and set out on one our ponds. After about 1200 feet (just a few minutes), on a still pond, I had taken on about 3/4 of an inch of water and it made a noticeable difference in paddling. I don't want to imagine what it would have meant in rough water after a longer time.

I also am thinking of cementing in the plug and installing a bulkhead fitting on top of the bow later if I miss the drain plug.

Ben

nice Job, way to keep a cool head. I had a similar incident on my t140, but i had mu buddy screw in the plug before it got that bad.
Stay Safe and fish on.
Any recommendations on a compact pump?
William102

nice Job, way to keep a cool head. I had a similar incident on my t140, but i had mu buddy screw in the plug before it got that bad.
Stay Safe and fish on.
Any recommendations on a compact pump?
William102

I have a Harmony pump: http://www.harmonygear.com/product/203818/HV_SEAKAYAK_PUMP/_/High_Volume_Sea_Kayak_Pump

Thanks for sharing. Everytime someone shares near miss stories, it helps educate us all. Gives us food for thought. Glad you kept your witts and pulled it off.

Wow!, what a scary situation!  Glad you survived it well due to your experience and advanced preparation (floatation bags, pump).   Could have been much worse.   

I think your post and all the other valuable comments will have many of us checking our plugs, getting pumps, adding floation into our hulls, and doing some advance preparation for this kind of event.