25 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

Oh yeah - being alone on the water is a blanket that covers all of those risks - really bad idea to be honest. 

 

^This^ is the Pat Brown rule I break again and again and again. However, if a tandem canoe tips and both anglers are in the water, the other isn't going to be much help and it's unlikely for one angler only to go into the water. 

17 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

^This^ is the Pat Brown rule I break again and again and again. However, if a tandem canoe tips and both anglers are in the water, the other isn't going to be much help and it's unlikely for one angler only to go into the water. 

 

 

Tipping - ya - bad news.  But even having another person merely able to go get help or move the boat to shallow water for you to get back in etc - can be a life or death thing at certain times of year.

 

This year I plan to be more diligent about PFD use - mainly because it's a pretty solid insurance plan even with good swimmers in the boat.

 

Anecdote time - my mom grew up in Michigan and swam in the Great lakes every summer her whole life.

 

When the kids would be dropped at the lake to swim it was required *EVERYONE* have a buddy at all times out on the lake.

 

My mom said a boy decided to swim across the channel they had a house on one summer and his partner didn't feel up to it.

 

He got really tired halfway there and never made it back.  That was just having fun and playing - no head injuries.  I think anything we can do to give ourselves more time to be rescued or found or not use our energy is life saving stuff on the water.

 

 

21 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

I paddled a tiny cheap kayak 3-4 miles into a maze of mangroves out of ft myers Florida once. Didn’t realize the sunshine state got fog in the ocean……. And it did. Couldn’t see jack, just had to guess which way the hotel was. Luckily I guessed correctly 😂 

Hahaha...it's a creepy feeling, isn't it  

 

Glad you made it back safe

2 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

^This^ is the Pat Brown rule I break again and again and again. However, if a tandem canoe tips and both anglers are in the water, the other isn't going to be much help and it's unlikely for one angler only to go into the water. 

One of my first dates with my wife I was going up steam thru some rapids and the current started taking us downstream sideways. We hit a rock and she went flying , somehow the canoe righted itself and I was still standing there in it. After she got done spitting out river rocks and water, she was not thrilled to see me standing in the canoe haha

when I was a kid my Father and I went fishing in a small lake in our 9' aluminum v-bottom with 9hp gas and 35lb thrust electric motor. Weather called for scattered sun showers. They were way off and a storm came up from behind a mountain next to the lake fast. It went from sunny to dark and a wall of rain and wind faster than we could get back. Made it about half way in before it hit hard. Had the 9hp maxed out and the electric motor on and was barely moving. If land was next to us I could have crawled faster than the boat was moving. Then about half way in from that point the thunder and lightning started which kicked things up a notch.

 

Ended up beaching the boat and throwing the anchor up on shore and running back up to the camper. By the time we dried off and changed clothes the sun was back out and clear sky. 

 

Since then I've always though of an exit plan if caught suddently like that from stupidity or honest surprise. I've been keeping a "go bag" with thin thermal clothes, magnesium fire starter, fire starting materials, purification drinking straw and other small doodads in case I ever have to beach the boat and bail. Most places I fish its a short walk to civilization...but you never know. 

I didn’t see any hail in the video, but in my experience that was the worst part. Got in the center of the boat and tried to keep the bow pointing into the waves while getting bashed in the face with some hard golf ball sized hail for what seemed like an eternity. That’s been years ago and I still feel uncomfortable talking about it.