Someone else posted thier capsize story and I tried to comment but I guess it was too long. So I wanted to share here since I also believe we can all learn from each other and appreciate the other poster kicking off the convo.
I capsized in San Francisco Bay about a year ago and will share my story here as well because I know some folks probably don’t consider that it can happen to them.
Context: I’ve been ocean and open water (not river or lake) kayaking for probably about a decade, or more. I’ve got hours of experience on the water, fishing scuba and free diving from a kayak. I’ve been yards away from whales and have been within arms reach of a great white shark while on my kayak. Needless to say it’s not a stretch to claim that I am “and experienced kayaker”
I had setup a trolling motor with two 35amp marine batteries sealed In a plastic container and connected with a quick connect. I had a custom made side motor mount the sat in the rear tank well of my “caper” ocean kayak. Getting the motor set up and running was a piece of cake, the only downside is the battery setup was quite heavy. Though I had done countless surf launches in bolinas, Pacifica, Sonoma and San Francisco Bay with this setup so I had gotten quite comfortable with the routine.
My capsize day: I have a local halibut fishing spot in San Francisco Bay about 10 minutes drive from my house. I’m so privileged to be lucky enough to enjoy this, and since I’m so comfortable with my ability and setup i decided that going for a last minute fishing strike mission when none of my buddies could make it with me was not going to be an issue at all.
I had loaded up my gear at dawn, stopped at the local liquor store for some libations and snacks, stocked up and 5 minutes later I was at the launch.
It was a beautiful day! No wind, almost flat water, hardly any traffic on the water, and just pristine conditions. Though the bite was brutally slow. Hours were going by and there was practically no action.
I was throwing back the drinks (those cut water margaritas that are like 14%) and munchin my snacks, Feeling good and loving life.
I was done though, early afternoon was rolling around and I pretty much ran out of bait and was ready to head home so I could clean gear and have time to hang with the wife for the evening. I headed in, kicking back and letting the trolling motor do all the work.
then it happened…. even today it still seems like a crazy fluke and something I will never forget. idk
if it was a wake from a distant motor boat, a gust of wind, maybe a doze off? but BOOM,
flipped my shit, boat completely upside down and I'm floatin midwater.
luckily i have my wetsuit on so temperature isn't an issue, I'm wearing my life vest so that also helped ease the stress. I attempt to right my boat but thats when shit really got real for me.
all my gear was overboard! my battery had sunk to the depths. Luckily, most of my belongings were tied down and my valuables were safely stored in a dry bag. though my tackle, lunch box, net, paddle and some other small things were just floating free in my vicinity.
during the capsize front hatch had come undone ( since i had the dry bag stored in there) and when i went to flip the boat water rushed in and filled the kayak. uh oh…… i couldn't get back on and pretty much was stuck there fearing that my boat was going to completely sink. i started desperately, single
handedly paddling and kicking towards the shore.
i was out there, alone, probably about a mile, maybe a bit less from the launch. i knew i was in trouble. i reached for my marine radio and attempted to get to
channel 16. shit, the radio is waterlogged, i couldn't call for help with this $60 non-waterproof marine radio. i started doing the man in distress , waving arms in the air and blowing on my pdf whistle in desperate hope someone from shore or the not so
distant pier would see me.
meanwhile, i was still trying to single arm paddle/ leg kick toward the shore, but it was pretty much futile due to the drift/rip current which is a standard condition out in SFBay. After probably 15-20 minutes of this, i had accepted that i was going to lose my entire fishing setup, my beloved kayak which held so many memories and all my pride and dignity. i knew
though, that i would be able to survive this experience due to my wetsuit, drybag and my pfd.
the universe works in mysterious ways though because just as i had accepted this unfortunate outcome, i was saved. A group of three retired navy vets pulled up on a super nice fishing boat and proceeded to save my ass, my kayak, almost all
of my gear (minus my net and my motor battery).
they pulled me onto their boat. all four of us pulled my water filled kayak onto this boat, and then they even took the time to help grab all the random floating gear like my lunch box, tackle box, hat and cooler bag.
they gave me a ride to the marina, drove me back to my truck, and totally saved my freeking dumb ass!
those guys will forever be held in the highest esteem in my book, they exhibited the absolute definition of “pay it forward” and taught me that if you can lend a hand to someone in need in a situation like that, time and energy is of no concern. They could have left my shit there and just dropped me off to walk miles back to my car but they were absolutely saviors and I am indebted to them and truly believe that anyone can step up if they are capable and decent.
So anyways, I’ve never written this story down but will never forget it either. If you made it this far and continue to get out there and enjoy the thrill of kayak fishing, please consider this story and learn from my mistakes. It can really happen to anyone. There are for sure contributing factors that compounded and left me floating alone in the water, and those are my hard lessons to learn and reflect on, but I am alive to tell the tale and hope to have gained even more knowledge and experience to hopefully avoid the same mistakes again.
Don’t let these types of events keep you down. It took me about two weeks of processing and tweeking my setup before I was back out in the ocean again going for rockfish, though now I hope to have enough controls in place so that if I do fail and capsize again, I will be able to walk away relatively unaffected.
Stay safe out there everyone.
Posted by Aromatic-Hat9615