Kayaker found boatless

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20070809-0906-bn09kayaker.html

***Posted in Fishing Reports cuz me thinks he was FISHING, prior to swimming***

SAN DIEGO – A man who spent the night in the ocean after his kayak sank was rescued Thursday morning from a beach south of Sunset Cliffs – some 17 hours after he started his paddle and about four to six miles away from where he launched his boat.
The 29-year-old from Clairemont was suffering from extreme hypothermia when he was found on the beach about 5:45 a.m. in the part of Point Loma known as Wooded Area, said city lifeguards Lt. Nick Lerma.



AdvertisementThe man said he paddled out from La Jolla Shores about 10 a.m. Wednesday morning after parking his car on Marine Street.
He told lifeguards that possibly around 6 or 7 p.m. – and far offshore – the kayak started taking on water and quickly sank despite his efforts to bail it out. “He thinks he made it to shore about 4 or 5 a.m.,” Lerma said.

Security guards at a Naval facility at Fort Rosecrans saw the man on an inaccessible beach below the cliffs and called authorities.

Lerma said lifeguards couldn't safely reach him by land, and had to take a boat to the spot and swim ashore to rescue him.

He said they found him wearing only shorts, with no life jacket.

The law requires kayakers to have a life jacket with them, but they are not required to wear it. Lerma didn't know if the man had one.

Lerma said the man was probably caught in a north to south current, which would explain why he ended up so much farther away from where he started.

The water was warm, in the 70s. Had conditions been harsher, Lerma said, the outcome could have been very different.

“It's a real story of survival,” he said.

Stu....we really need to get "Savage" to start wearing a wetsuite 

Heres your sign.

says he paddled out at 10am, but the kayak sank at 6-7PM? Methinks maybe he didn't tell anyone where he was going, as my wife woulda called the flippin navy, coast guard, and aquaman if I was out that long by myself.
That guy is one lucky boneheaded noob, if that was the case.
I agree, a safety thread might not be a bad idea.

Hi Yaker:

    Good to hear he was able to make it to shore. His next stop would have been Mexico. My last Yaking trip to
La Jolla was a long paddle because,  the N. to S. current took me to Pacific Beach.
                                                                                                                         Ernie

Mooch,
Time for a thread, or better yet, an article on SAFETY!

PFD, parter, vhf, gps..............and pool noodles

Stuart

I'm not sure if this is going to catch on here, but Bill did install a WIKI for NCKA a few weeks ago and there are pages set up for safety info.  If you look up the main menu bar on this site you'll see a link to the wiki.

http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/wiki/index.php/SafetyInformation

Anyway, I think that the WIKI is a great way to organize a series of articles on safety which can be amended over time.

I gotta say, that $100 I spent on my Uniden Voyager VHF is the best $ I've spent on the yak. Absolutely necessary in any ocean conditions. He could have been all good with a quick call like our boy Frankfishing. Imagine if this was spring or fall, he would have been a popsicle!

Z

  That guy is nuts. I can't imagine going out without a wetsuit let alone a friggin pfd and radio. If he wasn't religious before I bet he is now.

Something is weird about this report. I fish La Jolla a lot and a on a midsummer day the point has boats everywhere. Hundreds of them. It would seem almost impossible for no one to see him for 10 hours, or his empty yak for that matter.  An unmanned yak alone would prompt most people to call the CG. Seems odd that his boat would just happen to sink on the same day he gets caught on that southbound current train. Methinks maybe panic or alcohol may have played a role.............

WHAT A DUMBASS !!!

I gotta say, that $100 I spent on my Uniden Voyager VHF is the best $ I've spent on the yak. Absolutely necessary in any ocean conditions. He could have been all good with a quick call like our boy Frankfishing. Imagine if this was spring or fall, he would have been a popsicle!

Z

  You got a Voyager for a $100 bucks   ..Where? ....Danglin

sounds like a Bear Grylls wanna be, that pacific ocean man vs wild.

started at 10am, boat sank at 7pm. gives him enough time to take himself away from 'civilization' and kinda like jumping out of the plane, sank his own boat.

swam back to shore with no radio, gps, flares, camara crew, 'wearing only shorts' making a "a real story of survival"

Another lucky DUMBASS 

I gotta say, that $100 I spent on my Uniden Voyager VHF is the best $ I've spent on the yak. Absolutely necessary in any ocean conditions. He could have been all good with a quick call like our boy Frankfishing. Imagine if this was spring or fall, he would have been a popsicle!

Z

  You got a Voyager for a $100 bucks   ..Where? ....Danglin

Sale, floor sample @ Boaters World SJ.. 
Z

Was it a sit on top or a sik?

Something is weird about this report. I fish La Jolla a lot and a on a midsummer day the point has boats everywhere. Hundreds of them. It would seem almost impossible for no one to see him for 10 hours, or his empty yak for that matter.  An unmanned yak alone would prompt most people to call the CG. Seems odd that his boat would just happen to sink on the same day he gets caught on that southbound current train. Methinks maybe panic or alcohol may have played a role.............

If he launched from Marine St. and then drifted south, he could well have missed most of the armada fishing LJ.  The morning crew would have gone in, and he would have been well south of where the afternoon crew would have fished.  With the fishing so good offshore (paddies and chasing tuna) the boats that normally fish LJ probably wouldn't be out in LJ on a weekday.  What boats that may have been there would probably not see him at 7pm with the fog and low light conditions. 

While it's possible that panic or alcohol could have played a role, it doesn't add up because dude swam so far for so long and made it to shore. 

Stu,
why are  you reading SD newspapers? 

Nate