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Ephemerisle 2012 incidents |
For each rescue incident or other mishap, add a section here using the template.
Note: There were no serious injuries in 2012 and in most of these incidents there was little to no risk of serious injury. We're keeping track of these simply to learn from our mistakes and do better next year.
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==Template for adding an incident==
Location:
Time:
People affected or rescued:
Level of personal or property risk:
How the situation occurred:
How folks responded:
How the situation could have been prevented: How the response could have been better:
Location: Near rocks on the east side.
Time: Thursday afternoon (?)
People affected or rescued: One person paddling an inflatable dinghy, and two people paddling an inflatable kayak.
Level of personal or property risk: The paddlers were stuck and couldn't get to where they wanted to go, but no one was at risk of injury.
How the situation occurred: Wind blew the inflatable crafts east toward the rocks, and the paddlers were not strong enough to keep themselves from drifting aground. All paddlers were wearing life vests.
How folks responded: The paddlers waited at the rocks for others to come get them. A powered craft towed one of the inflatables back to the north raft. The other inflatable with two paddlers tied on behind another, stronger kayaker with a faster kayak, and the three people paddled together to get back to the north raft.
How the situation could have been prevented:
How the response could have been better:
Location: Eastern side of south raft.
Time: Saturday (more precise time?)
People affected or rescued: ~10 people on Chaos Legion and one other houseboat
Level of personal or property risk:
How the situation occurred: (Someone please provide a detailed account.)
Unclear what precipitated incident. Walking along the line of houseboats, Pablo (me) noticed that bow (upwind) cleats of Chaos was not attached to the rest of the raft, and a two-foot gap had already opened. There was no obvious failed line on either of the boats - it was as though someone had just removed it. The gap between the boats opened rapidly with no time for reaction, with leverage from the bow snapping off the rear cleat and letting the two easternmost boats peel off. Three people at the stern (bhayes, paulg and ?) had just enough time to leap between railings from the departing boats back to the main raft.
Patri: I had noticed earlier that several of the boats in the raftup were not tied together properly at the cleats, they did have the the usual loop-and-fold-under figure eights, but rather the rope was loosely circled around the set of cleats. I retied a couple of the boats, but had not gotten to that one yet :(.
How folks responded:
How the situation could have been prevented:
How the response could have been better:
Location: Near the two houseboats that broke away from the south raft.
Time: Saturday, about 4pm
People affected or rescued: One kayaker wearing a life vest.
Level of personal or property risk: No risk of drowning, but he could have lost the kayak, drifted into the rocks, gotten stuck there, been cold etc.
How the situation occurred: The kayaker departed from the breakaway houseboats intending to head toward the north raft. Encountering stronger than expected wind, he turned toward the south raft instead. The wind and waves caught the kayak and it overturned, leaving the kayaker in the water wearing the life vest and holding onto the paddle and kayak. The kayaker was unable to climb back into the kayak after several attempts, and began to drift east toward the rocks.
How folks responded: The kayaker tried to swim back toward the houseboats, towing the kayak behind him, making slow but uncertain progress. He called for help. Someone from the houseboats jumped into the water with a line and passed him the line, and they pulled themselves back to the two breakaway boats.
How the situation could have been prevented:
How the response could have been better:
Location: Singapore Cut (between N Mandeville Tip and S Mandeville Tip)
Time: Saturday morning/evening
People affected or rescued: Crew of Radio FMerisle
Level of personal or property risk: Minimal
How the situation occurred: Approaching a piling with intent to moor, lost way & steering, wind pushed the houseboat around and grounded the left front pontoon in the mud.
How folks responded: Evaluated situation, concluded that we were stuck by the descending tide but there was little immediate risk. ("We're not going anywhere for a while. In these conditions, there's something to be said for that.") Determined that next high tides were approx. at dark and early next AM. Placed a line from bow of houseboat to piling in hopes of avoiding having the wind blow the boat farther up the bank as the tide came back up. Contacted marina personnel who attempted to tow the houseboat loose (unsuccessful) and eventually set out an anchor from stern of houseboat. Eventually freed houseboat from bank about dark on Saturday, secured it a little farther offshore to avoid getting stuck. Sunday morning, we pulled the boat farther from the bank and managed eventually to depart under power.