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Terrible terrible tragedy at the weekend, and couldnt imagine how the families must be feeling, but we were discussing this at work and cant work out what has actually happened. Two families, Two Dads, and 2 kids from each family in a canoe with the kids wearing lifejackets, (dont know yet if the adults were) and the canoe capsizes 700 meters from shore on a calm sunny day. One father is lost, and his two boys drown, the other father and one of his daughters swims for shore and make it to raise the alarm. The second of his daughters, is recovered by a boat, wearing a lifejacket but floating face down. We cant work out how the Dad of the girls, could leave a 5 year old to float in the water whilst having the strength to swim 700 meters to shore himself? Surely the girl having a life jacket would have provided enough buoyancy to support both of them to get to shore? I am not posting this to sound crass or unsympathetic, just thinking out loud and wondering if anyone knows any more about it?
I'm sure those who are in the know on this incident are sat behind their keyboards just dying to share the details with a load of [s]mountain bikers[/s] middle aged IT managers.
Or, I suppose those of us who haven't got a clue could just pointlessly speculate?
I dunno, but can I suggest this topic really, really doesn't need discussing?
i'd be surprised if they were wearing 'life jackets' in a canoe - they restrict your arm movements too much.
instead, i'd guess they were wearing 'bouyancy aids' - which only offer a little help.
(basically, you can't swim in a life jacket, or paddle a canoe effectively, so you wear a bouyancy aid, which helps, but not much)
It is a terrible thing to happen.
However, that's a lot of people for a 14ft canoe.
Taking two and five year old children out seems like folly to me.
You lose your kid in the supermarket and it's panic stations. God only knows what it's like in a real life-threatening situation like the one described. Total mental fugue in a lot of cases I would guess.
There is a huge difference between a bouyancy aid and a life jacket. A life jacket may have provided enough bouyancy to get two people to shore, but a bouyancy aid would almost certainly not. Life jackets tend to have crotch straps to stop them pulling over uncounscious peoples heads and are also designed to turn people onto their back, bouyancy aids do not.
I'd hazard a guess that the adults werent wearing bouyancy aids or life jackets, and that the boat didnt have bouyancy bags in it. I'd also hazard a guess that the guy who swam to shore thought that it was his best course of action and probably his only way of surviving.
Hypothermia and shock kick in very quickly in cold water. A boat sinking without trace would add to that.
what woody2000 said
I'm not sure what the merits of discussing this tragic event are but on a slightly similar note I spent a day in Stratford last week and a family were out in one of those rental canoes. Dad thought it would be hilarious to start rocking the canoe violently whilst his young daughter (5-8 yrs old) screamed with absolute terror. He thought it was hilarious and then once he stopped rocking the canoe had the audacity to shout at his daughter to 'stop it and calm down'. She was terrified.
I hate people sometimes (often).
I'm an experienced kayaker / canoeist. There is still a body missing and the facts are unknown. I hope this thread is closed as there are any number of factors that could have been involved and it is wrong to speculate at this time. There will be a full investigation and we can learn the lessons in due course.