Rescued a sinking kayak at Shadow Cliffs last Sat (12/19)

I hadn't been on the water for long when I came across a kayaker stranded on the opposite side of the lake from the boat ramp. He was on a steep shoreline, holding on to his half-submerged kayak. I pulled up and he asked if I had a bilge pump, which I did. He pumped out most of the water, then got on and another kayaker and I got on each side of him and pulled him along while he kept pumping. We got took him to the closest spot where he could get out and walk back to the boat ramp. It was a little sketchy because he was barely able to keep up with the incoming water and his bow came close to digging into the water while we were underway. Once he was off, we dragged his kayak the rest of the way to the boat ramp, where he met us. We drained the water and flipped the boat over, to discover a three inch long gash on the bottom of the kayak where the water had been coming in. Something very sharp had hit the bottom very hard. He said it was a brand new kayak (Old Town 10.5ft pedal drive) purchased from Bass Pro. It was his first kayak and first time out on it. He didn't remember hitting anything in the short time he was on the kayak that morning, and the lake doesn't have big rocks or anything that could have caused that gash. It seems possible that the kayak came that way from the retailer. The guy did have a decent PFD on. I told him to join NCKA and wished him luck.

dang!!!

i am so glad you all were there.  i cant imagine it is easy to cut into a kayak on purpose..by accident, that has to be rare.

Mad props... he will remember this incident for sure and can’t thank you enough... hope he joins the forum.

nice rescue! Look at it this way...better that it happened at Shadow Cliffs than in the salty deep blue

nice rescue! Look at it this way...better that it happened at Shadow Cliffs than in the salty deep blue

No kidding. I hope the guy can get Bass Pro to take it back, although it may be hard to prove that the damage happened before he bought it. It's a bit disturbing that they would sell a kayak in that condition.

Hey Ben. It’s me Sonny. I was the other kayaker that came and help bring in that sinking kayak. I feel bad for the guy. I’m glad he didn’t go in the drink and was so glad that this wasn’t an ocean rescue cause it would have been really bad. It was nice to meet you Ben and hope to see you there again under better circumstances.

Hey Ben. It’s me Sonny. I was the other kayaker that came and help bring in that sinking kayak. I feel bad for the guy. I’m glad he didn’t go in the drink and was so glad that this wasn’t an ocean rescue cause it would have been really bad. It was nice to meet you Ben and hope to see you there again under better circumstances.

Great job to you as well. Thanks for watching out for each other. 

Hey Ben. It’s me Sonny. I was the other kayaker that came and help bring in that sinking kayak. I feel bad for the guy. I’m glad he didn’t go in the drink and was so glad that this wasn’t an ocean rescue cause it would have been really bad. It was nice to meet you Ben and hope to see you there again under better circumstances.

Hi Sonny. It was good to meet you too. Thanks for helping out!

I'm guessing he struck something while the boat was car topped. 

Nice work on the save 

I'm guessing he struck something while the boat was car topped. 

Nice work on the save 

Solid guess.

There are also defective kayaks out there that are brand new.

Great rescue you two !!

I have an Old Town Predator , they are heavy as hell , very durable , and built like a tank . I can't imagine hitting something that hard to put a crack in the hull .  I would think it got damaged in shipping or the guy used 3,000 lbs ratchet straps and strapped the hell out of it in transport .

We drained the water and flipped the boat over, to discover a three inch long gash on the bottom of the kayak where the water had been coming in. Something very sharp had hit the bottom very hard. He said it was a brand new kayak (Old Town 10.5ft pedal drive) purchased from Bass Pro. It was his first kayak and first time out on it. He didn't remember hitting anything in the short time he was on the kayak that morning, and the lake doesn't have big rocks or anything that could have caused that gash. It seems possible that the kayak came that way from the retailer.

I've hit a lot of sharp rocks pretty hard in whitewater kayaks, and while the hits resulted in some deep scratches, they didn't come remotely close to going all of the way through.  It would take a very hard hit from a very sharp object to make a cut or hole in a kayak.  I would be surprised if an empty kayak full of water getting slammed repeatedly onto rocks by surf would result in a cut through the hull of the kayak.  I suspect that the cut occurred while the kayak was being shipped.

For example, the first picture below shows a kayak which went through many miles of Class V rapids in Mexico, full of water and gear, after its owner took a swim on a multi-day kayak trip.  The bow got bashed in, but there were no serious scratches on the kayak, and certainly no cuts which went all of the way through. The owner had a long hike along the river, had to be ferried from one side of the river to the other multiple times above big rapids to avoid cliffs, and didn't find the kayak washed up on shore until the next day.

Kayaks do crack occasionally, usually after many years of hard use and wear.  The second picture below shows a kayak with a lot of miles which cracked under its seat on a three-day trip on the Selway River because the bottom had worn thin. The rest of the pictures show a green kayak which was only a couple of weeks old which cracked on a four-day Jarbidge-Bruneau trip.  The manufacturer (Jackson) replaced the kayak under warranty.  On multi-day kayak trips I bring some raft repair material and some vinyl glue (one of the few glues which will stick to polyethylene) to repair cracked kayaks.

good job

Its the forklift's fault.