Here's a rather harrowing account of what its like to fall off your kayak in cold temperate waters of the North Sea. I copied and pasted my friends events, Billy who is a friend that I've kayaked with many times doesn't really explain the fear he was going through as he's a rather tough Glaswegian that doesn't scare to easily! He did tell me he thought it was his end! This is Billys account copy and pasted, he is the first to admit he made a very silly decision, my guess was air temp 20c , water temp 6c
nice to be back on dry land
well today started well in water 9am ...paddled out to mark 3.5mile from aldeburgh [ martello tower ]got settled and fishin for about an hour or so first fish codlin 3.5lb lovely .in the hold with it , a few doggies came up and released...rat atat tat..look out here comes first bass of the day 52 cms mabee 4/4.5 lb yee haa ya f**kin beauty , 5 mins later another about same size ...it went quiet so decided to move ..BAD MOVE..tried to pull anchor up, it was ok at back of yak ut when i tried to heave the yak went tits up ..im in the water..now it was very warm so i had tied the drysuit round ma waist ..BAD DECISION ..the bottom half had filled with water and the pfd was up around ma neck , no matter how many times i tried to get back on , the yak just flipped again ..ive been in sea mabee twenty mins and im gettin the shivers , f**k ..im gettin a bit concerned at this time , the vhf is in ma pfd ..but am thinkin F**k that , if i make the call it wil be a big hoo ha ..eventually got on at the stern an shimmed my way up to the seat , hand slippedof the yak and SPLASH ..im in again ..had a rest for two mins and tried again...BASTERDO ..got caught up in rudder so had to get in water take pfd off and try again , now ive been in water mabee an hour and feet are numb cos i can feel them ..by this time the tide is f**kin hammerin through...am on the yak and back in the seat shiverin uncontrolably rods in a right tangle cos the yak had been turned a few times and things where in a mess i had drifted out a bit further been in water so long ..i was 4.5miles offshore and paddlin against current ...ma two bass , rapala fillet knife , crate , neo gloves , rag, peeler, lug, pliers , sandwichies ,flask with cold water in,weights ,rigs sunglasses and other bits n bobs GONE..neptune should have a f**kin bootsale on that lot , not to mention anchor ,line ,bouy..hopefully that will still be there tmoz
by the time i got to shore i was F**ked n sore from cold ...now back in house and bathed i feel better ,but a very sore lesson was learned today ..if you can ..get company , and never take you eye off the ball..and dont be a twat!!! drysuits are excelent IF you wear them properly and your pfd must be snug around your waist , lash as much as poss ...or keep gear down to a minimum ....
a very lucky billy
KFF
Junior Member
Kayak Fishing since Summer 2006 Member here since December 2006.
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