Seven sea kayakers met on Sunday, Nov 8 2015, for an out and back trip on the Potomac River from Belle Haven Marina in Alexandria VA. On a 60 degree day, with blue skies and 5 to 10 knot winds, and water temperature around 59, we were all in dry suits. But we witnessed renters getting rec boats and paddling off in jeans and sweat shirts. It reminded us all of how "the Potomac eats people," the hows and whys.
We wandered through the Marina's moored sailboats before reaching the river proper and turning right, down river. Within moments of turning on to the river I spotted a dark figure rising and falling into a sitting position on one of the slippery rock shoals that lurk in this area. At first, I thought he was fishing. But no, the slip and fall, a paddle laying near him, and the fact that there was a small rec boat floating about 40 feet off the shoal...
I left my group, telling the closest where I was going, and paddled over calling out in a clear voice "Hey bud, are you okay?" No answer, now I am closer and hear him sobbing and see him rocking. Repeating my question, no answer but sobbing. My evaluation: NOT okay. He is not acknowledging me at all and now I am floating and calling out 15 feet from him. My boat scrapes into the rocks. At this point my buds have started to circle up. I ask one to retrieve his boat. I have my radio in my hand and check to make sure it is already on channel 16.
I observe he is wearing a cotton hoodie and baggy cotton pants. He is not wearing shoes, nor a life jacket. He is a young guy, looks fit, but is wet and muddy, and incoherently sobbing. I gratefully note that my husband is out and pulling his boat up onto the shoal. I ask James to gently touch his shoulder as we still have not gotten acknowledgement from him, no eye contact. He does not seem aware of my husband, just rocking and crying. At this point I unlock my radio and get ready to call the Coast Guard.
Deke says that the Marina has a little skiff and they might be able to come retrieve him more quickly than a water rescue team. Dennis, a strong and fast paddler, volunteers to race for the Marina, and off he goes. In the meantime I initiate a call for rescue on my radio. I chose to hedge our bets.
While never truly responding to us, the "victim" does eventually manage to shake his head "no, not okay" in response to my direct question. Out come the supplies as James and Marc start working to wrap him in emergency blankets. I am on the radio with the Coast Guard. (side note, it was the Baltimore Station that took my call). I leave my boat at the Coastie's request to search the victim's boat for ID and phone. Negative on both. We noticed his dry shoes inside the boat, and a minimal amount of river water in the boat. Also a half eaten apple and orange. So we know he has been eating, and the relatively dry boat indicates he may have gotten wet after exiting the boat.
The CG says "ETA for rescue team is six minutes." We can see a skiff jetting towards our location and assume this is the Marina's skiff. As the skiff beaches on the rocks the skiff's driver says he's on the phone with Fairfax Co Emergency. Our victim suddenly declines at an alarming pace. He goes from sitting and sobbing to curled up on his side and quietly sobbing while wrapped in blankets to silence. When he hits silence, the extraction kicks into high gear. The big man in the skiff and my husband lift him up and carry him into the skiff. I tell the CG "this guy is no longer responsive, we are loading him in the Marina skiff now. The Marina has called land-based Fire and Rescue. Fire and Rescue will meet the skiff at the Marina."
Looking at where he had been laying I find shiny white iPhone earbuds, which I place in the seat of his boat.
James pushes the skiff back off the rocks and we watch them speed for the Marina. He attaches his tow to the victim's boat and leaves to tow it back to the Marina. In mere minutes we see the lights and activity of EMS from our position on the water and I breathe a big sigh of relief. I wrap it up with the Coast Guard and the 3 different boats with blue lights we have observed coming our way all slow and turn their lights off. I check my watch, it has been six minutes since the CG gave me a rescue ETA. Six minutes, wow!
Dennis and James rejoin our group and we turn towards our original plan, a nice little paddle.
This is what we did right:
-My decision to initiate contact and the fact that I would not have left a person in this condition started the actions that ensured he got care.
-We took care not to become victims ourselves. The other two ladies in the group, Rose and Karen, wisely stayed in their boats. This gave us a secondary line of communication and safety should things go terribly awry.
-We moved resolutely, team members willing to help. There was no questioning each other. Team members made suggestions, but kept to a minimum.
-Contacting the Coast Guard helped ensure that if the Marina skiff failed we were already initiating First Responder evacuation.
-We had supplies and training for both First Aid and a more in depth Wilderness First Aid rescue.
-We were able to get him moved into definitive care very quickly.
Our team debriefed informally at lunch on the river side. It was interesting that we needed to talk about our observations and what we thought had happened to him. He was clearly wet and muddy, perhaps from slipping and falling down. He was disoriented, possibly due to hypothermia. He was not able to help himself, for certain. He was not shivering, possibly indicating that he was already too cold to warm himself. With no floatation, and dressed in cotton he was certainly in grave danger. The shoal he was on goes under water as the tide rises, which it was. Based on how quickly he slid from minimally responsive to unresponsive and how quickly the water was rising he easily could have drowned before he died from classic hypothermia.
I am really glad that this incident did not turn into a "Kayaker drowns on the Potomac" report in the evening news.
In closing I want to touch briefly on training:
-James and I have a fair amount of American Canoe Association-endorsed training and also keep our First Aid and CPR Certs current. We have many years of experience trip leading both as volunteers and in James case, as a professional mountain guide.
-Marc and Rose, as well as Dennis, have participated a local paddling club's training curriculum known as KIPP (Kent Island Practice Paddle). Marc and Dennis both talked about how it taught them to form teams and watch out for each other. They were able to perform needed functions due to confidence they gained in KIPP.
While anyone might have been able to come along and help this guy I want to credit training, where credit is due. "Drill, drill, drill," Coach says, "This is why we drill." We were able to effectively observe, evaluate, plan, and execute, due in large part to training.
I am proud of my water clan, my real and true friends who stepped up to help. Good job, everyone. Thanks.
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