Cork Kayaker very lucky to be alive

[JimBeam]

Taken from Evening Echo Monday 23 May:

A CORK kayaker was lucky to escape with his life yesterday when his craft capsized, forcing him to spend twohours in the water in blustery conditions without a wet suit.
The kayaker was one of a party of five, comprised of Dave Roche, Tess Bennett and Joe Cotter from east Cork, Gerry Walsh from Blarney and Reg Murphy from Douglas Street, who left Baltimore Harbour to paddle to Lough Hyne in Skibbereen four miles east of Baltimore.
Mr Cotter capsized twice on route, lost his craft and was left exposed to the elements for two hours without a wet suit.
Reg Murphy said today: “It was quite a blustery day with very big rollers coming in, which can make it quite difficult to turn. At one stage, Joe was making a turn and he capsized and ended up in the water.”
Three of the kayakers rafted together, took Mr Cotter across their kayaks and made their way toward a suitable landing point beneath high cliffs.
“On the way, my own craft capsized a couple of times and Joe ended up in the water again. It got quite frightening as we were in a heavily cliffed area and there were big rollers coming in, but we managed to pull together again and rafted up the three boats.
“When we eventually reached a place of relative safety, I tried to call for help on my mobile phone, but there was no signal, so Dave had to go for help on his own. At this stage it was very cold and Joe was in the water for too long.”
Mr Roche landed at Trafaska Cove and raised the alarm and the Baltimore Lifeboat was launched just after 2.30pm.
With a crew of eight on board, the lifeboat proceeded toward Kedge, a small island east of Baltimore Harbour, in a Force Six SW wind and a one-metre swell.
The Asgard II stood by while the search and rescue operation was taking place.
The lifeboat launched an inflatable dinghy with a crew of two on board, brothers Benny and Micheál Cottrell.
Having rescued all the kayakers, the lifeboat continued searching for the fourth kayak, which was found drifting two miles east of the Kedge.
Although cold and tired the survivors did not sustain any serious injury. However a spokeswoman for the lifeboat said the kayaker who was exposed to the elements was ‘very lucky to be alive’.

[DavidCarraher]

Jim it appears these lads were very lucky. I don\'t know how experienced they are but it might be a good idea if someone from the locality contacted them. Jim Kennedy or Jon Hynes run good courses down that way.
Some questions have to be asked. 1. had they no VHF, 2. Had they any flares. 3. What level paddlers were they. 4. Did they have any spare clothes in their boats 5 Did they have paddle leashes. 6. What type of boats were they in. 6. Are they members of any club.

Luckily noone got badly hurt, but we should encourage them to attend courses and gain experience through paddling with clubs, ISKA etc.

[Don]

Dave,
Another important question:
Are they originally from Cork?

[JimBeam]

Hi David,

I’ve got a couple of friends working on Sherkin island and they told me about the incident on Sunday last then I saw the article in the Evening Echo and copy and pasted it the bulletin board. I was paddled over and camped on East Skeam last Saturday night it was relatively calm weather and that area is pretty sheltered anyway - on Sunday the winds picked up as the day progressed - I paddled around Hare island about 8AM and was off the water by 11AM beacuase I could see it was getting rougher out at sea.

I don\'t know any of the paddlers but will ask about to see if anyone knows them. It was definitely Level 4 conditions and setting out without VHF was madness. I\'ve kayaked the route that they took a couple of times in a force 3-4 but always in a tight well experienced group and always with VHF.

Happy safe paddling to everyone,
Jim

[DavidCarraher]

Thanks Jim
I have got a phone number from Baltimore lifeboat station and I will try to make contact with the people involved. Will keep you posted on any outcome