One Dead, One Injured After Kayak Capsizes In Tomales Bay On Saturday

Not a lot of info on this one yet.... Sounds like maybe kayak campers. Sad to hear. I know that the current was strong yesterday.


https://www.sfgate.com/news/bayarea/article/marin-co-one-dead-one-injured-after-kayak-22091250.php

Here's more info. https://www.pressdemocrat.com/2026/03/23/kayaker-drowns-in-tomales-bay-dog-and-boyfriend-rescued/

The valuable takeaway from this tragedy appears to be;

1) Wearing a life jacket isn't enough. Make sure it fits snugly. Check your friends & guests. Don't just hand 'em a PFD.

2) Tomales is far less sheltered from wind than Windy tends to give it credit for. If Windy says it's 15mph in Tomales, expect it to feel like 20. Windy said 20+, which means I don't really want to be here in my powerboat let alone my yak.
 
During the spring when the wind shoots directly down the bay from the mouth, Tomales isn't a sheltered bay. It's an amplifying windtunnel. On numerous occasions I have felt it gets less windy when I cross the bar and leave the bay entirely. It sounds nuts, but a few hundred tomales bay outings can't be too wrong.

Sad watching the dog being left behind

You HAVE TO KNOW how to get back onto your kayak, or you should NOT be in the ocean.
Relatively speaking, these situations don't happen often, but they happen "often enough" to be of major concern. 

For those with pedal drives, righting your Kayak is easy enough.  Just grab the upside down pedals that should still be locked into place in most cases.  Pull them toward you and your kayak is "righted".

Then you should be able to lurch your body across your kayak perpendicular... then twist your body 180 to get back on... OR you might be able to get back on from the rear cowboy style.  I can do both.

Also, my kayak is filled with 34 foam pool noodles... inside the cavity... so it is impossible to sink even if taking on water. 

If you can't get back on your kayak by testing yourself.. don't venture farther out than you know you could swim to shore within 15 or 20 minutes. 

My advice is good here.... take it or leave it...

I’ll second what astrology said, very important to write that thing back up and jump back in.The second time I went out many years ago. I just caught a nice Ling,
in the excitement I didn’t realize I drifted right into a 8 foot break,
Dumped it, Being a greenhorn, I didn’t know that I should have powered straight into it and maybe make it over but took it sideways and got baptized! Drifted away from the break righted the
x-factor, climbed back in as a buddy held the yak.
Only lost 1 black rockfish.huh  Learned alot on that trip.
Haven’t flipped it since🤞🏼
The Lings are calling!!

Scotty

They were in a canoe! In 20 mph winds, with waves around 3ft! Billy at Wind Toys in RP watched the rescue from the shore with a spotting scope. He said that he saw the response and got the scope out. Took him a min to spot the bright red canoe, it would disappear behind each wave. Tomales Bay as we all know can turn bad quick. Still wondering if they had on PFDs or if they were just in the canoe...

FYI the dog was saved by boat along with the canoe. Which was quite the feat on it's on. Solo captain, driving boat, pulling in dog, fighting the current, wind and swells and managed to haul in the canoe.... SOLO!