https://www.thefishingwire.com/releases/9da9eaf9-a28b-4f0a-a338-42a3b5ae685d

Watchstanders in the Sector Juneau command center received the initial phone call from one of the kayakers at approximately 9:15 p.m. requesting assistance. The kayaker indicated that he and another male friend had become exhausted after an approximate 9-hour, 23-mile paddle in their 10-foot kayaks. He expressed concerns about running out of daylight, having no lifejackets, no exposure suits, no warm clothing, no food, water, survival equipment, nor means of communication aside from a cell phone running low on battery.

Wow. What they lacked in gear they made up for in over-confidence and willingness to call others for rescue (once they had a cell signal). If that cell battery had been fully dead they’d be Darwin award contenders.

More info in the OVERBOARD VEST thread.

The last post in the Overboard Vest thread is from July ‘19.

Amazing lack of forethought and preparedness! Even here in sunny Southern California, whenever I get in a kayak, my PFD is worn, equipped with a knife (for dealing with kelp) and a strobe light at a minimum. Usually there is a signal mirror along as well.

Wow! What can you even say? I understand that most of the time people aren't charged for being rescued but sometimes maybe they should be!

“The sea finds out everything you did wrong.”

– Francis Stokes

Also, a 10' kayak is not a sea kayak.

Yep, sea kayaks are about 17 feet, mostly.

Very lucky they had signal!

In our waterways this time of year calls are common since there are sheer dropoffs and no entry / exit for miles at a stretch, sometimes rapids, swiftwater and blockages not obvious from the entry point, depending on how the weather's been. People hop in on tubes and swimwear and that's it, sometimes a cell phone and some beer.

They'll start out late afternoon on a route that takes 6 hours, end up calling after pitch dark because they can't see and it's gotten cold.

The most commonly used item when we arrive on scene is a space blanket. The most common comment I get was "we thought the river looped back around to the starting point"

It's important to have a good idea of their location, because there may be an entry point close to the cell phone ping but we don't want to inadvertently enter downstream of them. However, we don't want to put in so far upriver that it takes an extended amount of time to get to them either if we can put in closer, especially if there's a medical issue.

Fortunately, most parts in my AO have full cell coverage, and a common technique we use is to have them pull up their location on google maps, zoom out a little bit and take a screenshot to send to the incident commander's phone and we can go from there.

I have been introducing drones, but we run into legal VLOS issues because Tennessee has some tree canyons...