Hard Lessons

Yesterday I learned several things the hard way.  I had been wanting to fish for stripers but couldn’t make it to the contest in West Sacramento last weekend.  So when clear weather and light winds were predicted for Saturday I decided to drive to China Camp and fish on San Pablo Bay.  I got there at about high tide a little after 10 a.m.  I figured that I could get in a couple of hours of fishing before the tide ebbed enough for the mud to make it difficult to get back in.  I had just finished building a plastic console for my rod holders and wanted to try it out.  I was a little surprised at how big the swells were considering the light winds but I launched with what seemed like just a little water coming into the yak and almost all of that seemed to drain out through the scupper holes.  I was paddling my 9’ Malibu Stealth, which comes rigged for fishing with a center bait well and two flush mount rod holders and is wide to provide stability.  I met a guy who had fished for stripers in the area for years and he advised me to fish near The Brickyard to the south.  The swells were still substantial as I paddled to the area and a little more water came over the yak.  The water was calmer when I got to the fishing area so I took out a rod and started to put on a lure that I had made specifically for stripers (a version of the tube and worm used back East).  While doing this I shifted just slightly in the yak and it capsized.  I was wearing a full wetsuit and my PFD so I wasn’t too worried about my immediate safety.  I also wasn’t concerned that the yak might sink because I had put 8 large diameter pool noodles and a number of empty plastic bottles in the hull.   However, when I tried to right the yak I found that it wouldn’t budge.  I tried for about a half hour and was just about to run a line from one side of the yak to the other to try to pull it over when a sailboat appeared under power and took me aboard.  I had been wondering how it would be if I couldn’t get the yak to turn over and had to spend the night in the water.  I wasn’t cold but I expected that I would be after a few hours.  I thought I would tie one wrist to the yak to keep from falling asleep during the night and separating from it.  The sailboat was headed toward China Camp so they offered to take me and the yak there which I gladly accepted.  They tied the yak to the back.  I then noticed that my new console and my rods were no longer attached; I had the rack attached to the yak with bungees and I must have dislodged it in trying to right the yak so they are on the bottom of San Pablo Bay.  I was surprised to see that while I was in the water the yak and I had drifted over a mile south with the outgoing tide.  By the time we approached China Camp the sailboat was scraping mud and couldn’t get closer than about a mile from shore so they helped me down into the yak to paddle in.  I was surprised at how low in the water the yak went when I got in; I realized that it had taken on a lot of water.  After the sailboat left I got out my pump and pumped out the bait well which had filled with water.  I opened a side hatch and pumped out what I could from the inside of the yak but the angle of the opening wouldn’t let the pump go in very far so I couldn’t pump most of the water out. That made for difficult paddling and substantially less stability.  It dawned on me that the yak must have taken on much more water than I realized before I capsized and that was why it took only a slight shift in my weight to turn it over.  After paddling hard for about a half hour I approached the shore at China Camp.  I started to run aground in the mud about a quarter of a mile from shore.  It was getting near sunset and a park ranger called to me with a bullhorn and asked me to come in because it was near closing time.  I told him that I was trying but not making much headway.  He advised me to get out of the yak and pull it in.  I tried that but the mud was so soft that I sank in to above my knees and couldn’t make substantial headway.  The ranger advised me to paddle to the rocky point south of China Camp where there was less mud.  After much effort to get back to open water I paddled to the point but there was still some distance of mud to the shore.  This time when I got out I got on my knees so I wouldn’t sink in as deeply and pushed the yak in front of me.  When I finally made it to shore I was exhausted.  When the ranger and I tried to drag the yak up out of the water we found that it was extremely heavy.  We turned it over and a huge amount of water poured out.  After a short rest the ranger helped me carry my yak and gear over the rocks about a quarter of a mile to his truck.  With thin soled diving booties on the rocks did a number on my feet and I had to stop to rest several times.  When we got back I thanked the ranger profusely for his help. 

The first lesson that I learned is that things can go wrong even when you think that you are prepared and conditions seem good.  The second lesson is that the Malibu Stealth’s hatches aren’t close to water tight.  I am now reluctant to take it out on the ocean even though I have previously paddled at Stillwater Cove, Ocean Cove, Bodega Bay, and Tomales Bay.  It is great as a calm-water fishing platform but it has too many hatches (4) and all of them leak substantially.  The third thing that I learned is that for this yak I need a pump with a flexible inlet hose to get to the water in the bottom of the yak.  The fourth thing that I learned is that bungee cords aren’t a reliable way to attach gear to a rack in case of capsizing.  Lots of lessons, all learned the hard way.

Oh man! That sounds like a fucking nigtmare.
Good job keeping a clear head and not panicking.
Happy you're safe, too.

Oh damn dude, that sucks! Anytime you want to fish the Port of West Sac (with no waves, no mud, and only a few yards to shore in most cases) gimme a call..

Glad you're OK.  Thanks for sharing your experience with us YaknFish.  The bay sometimes is more dangerous than the ocean due to strong tide!

Sounds like that situation could have gone south in a hurry. The kayak is one thing, but a half hour later and you could have been stuck in that mud in the gathering darkness and rising tide. Damn...

I had to get pulled (by rope) out of a mud flat in the Puget Sound as a kid. My suctioned off boots are still deep in that mud somewhere.

Glad you made it back. Thats an important survival story.

Glad u are ok bro. That's a tough lesson to learn China Camp mud is no bueno. Been there done that in 06. Misjudged the tide and walked thru it forever.


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Glad you made it back. I recommend you take the yak to a small local lake and practice self rescue and try to work out exactly why so much water got in. I haven't heard of such serious hatch leakage on a Malibu before.

s.f. bay is serious shit...  I suggest you start saving for a new yak.  While you are at it,get a vhf radio. Thanks for the writeup. congradulations on being alive and well.

Glad you made it back. I recommend you take the yak to a small local lake and practice self rescue and try to work out exactly why so much water got in. I haven't heard of such serious hatch leakage on a Malibu before.

+1 Find out what's leaking and fix it. 99% of bad scenarios start the same way, "I capsized and couldn't climb back in". Glad you are OK. SF bay is one of the most dangerous places we fish. Capsizing and getting separated from your yak by wind or current is the worst case scenario which you avoided. So here are the things that went well:
#1 PFD
#2 Dressed for immersion
#3 You didn't panic
#4 Power boat nearby

If the boat hadn't come by a VHF would have been critical to your survival. Depending on the thickness of your wetsuit, the chances of surviving the night in the water on the bay in December is questionable at best. In 50 degree water a 7mm wetsuit with a 40-50 degree air temperature will give you at best 4 hours before hypothermia sets in. Having a buddy may have been helpful with regard to self rescue and getting the water out of your hull.

wow, I'm glad you're alive to write this. It could have been so much worse.
Stay safe out there, SPB is no joke.

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Dude,
Thank god you're alright!  Gear can always be replaced.  Thankfully, there were people around to help you.
Stay safe brother!

bob

What an intense situation. So glad you were able to share this with us.

Lessons learned for certain!

   Glad you made it out ok.  Gear can be replaced.

So glad you made it out! Lots learned by all of us in your report, thanks.

What an intense situation. So glad you were able to share this with us.

yeah that's where chit gets real fast. So glad you were able to get yourself out of that fix with a bit of maritime help (kudos to the sailboat for helping you).

I have a nagging fear of my yak taking on water, so I try to reach into the hull after a bit of time paddling, just to be sure all feels dry in there. Old kayaks can get wear pinholes in the plastic, and as you discovered even with secondary flotation they can get really heavy.

thanks for the reminder!