As school lets out and the sun shines bright, Sequim’s waters are soon to become even more of a boater’s haven.
However, Coast Guardsmen warn while this is the busiest time for boating, it’s also when incident counts rise.
LCDR Greg Lynch MH-65D Pilot at Air Station/SFO Port Angeles said annually they report from Ediz Hook to 150-200 incidents by helicopter and/or boat each year for incidents ranging from lost or overdue kayakers or pleasure craft to marine pollution events to false alarms.
This year, Clallam County has had two high profile incidents at the beginning of the peak season.
It’s been nearly two months since tragic events in Sequim’s waters made national headlines after two kayakers died during a day trip on April 11 in Dungeness Bay.
The Clallam County Sheriff’s Office reports seven kayakers with the Mountain View Church of the Nazarene’s hiking club out of Tumwater saw conditions turn quickly on their way back to the Cline Spit boat launch from the New Dungeness Lighthouse.
Witnesses say the day began with calm waters but that afternoon hail poured for brief spurts in Sequim while on the water the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office reported 35 mph winds and 3-foot high swells. These led to three boaters’ 17-foot sea kayaks to overturn.
A lighthouse volunteer spotted the kayakers and called for help around 2:42 p.m. The Coast Guard deployed a boat and helicopter and called in a support helicopter from the Naval Air Station Whidbey Island.
Jacob Austin, 52, a transit bus driver from Lacey, was found by boat and sent to Olympic Medical Center where he died.
The Navy helicopter found Mandi Walkley, 39, a Home Depot cashier from Chehalis, and transported her to PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center in Bellingham where she was pronounced dead.
The Coast Guard helicopter found 50-year-old William D. Kelley of Lacey and transported him from OMC. He later recovered at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
More recently, tragedy struck again, taking the life of another kayaker in Neah Bay.
Roland Abiva, 39, of Graham, accidentally drowned during a fishing trip in Neah Bay on May 14, reported Clallam County coroner and Prosecutor Mark Nichols.
The Clallam Sheriff’s Office reports Abiva, an experienced fisherman and a founding member of the Northwest chapter of Heroes on the Water which provides kayak fishing trips to wounded warriors, was knocked out of his kayak when a wave capsized him.
Bystanders found him floating face down in the water and they performer CPR up to the arrival of Makah Emergency Medical Service personnel.
Abiva was taken to the Sophie Trettevick Indian Health Center where he was pronounced dead.
Nichols reported Abiva’s medical condition may have made him more susceptible to drowning.
Local reports
The Coast Guard’s incident log isn’t isolated to Clallam County.
Lynch said they cover from Tacoma to Bellingham to Cape Flattery to Ocean Shores.
“In the summer, we get a lot of calls in the San Juan Islands and Whidbey Island area,” he said.
As for their varied call log, Lynch said they encourage people to call if they suspect trouble.
“We get a lot of calls from the general public,” he said.
“There’s the clear cut end of the spectrum (of an incident) to someone in their condo who spotted someone who looked like they were in distress. Maybe they didn’t see it correctly, which is fairly common, but folks are trying to do the right thing. We still encourage that because we have cases where people are in distress.”
Focusing in on Clallam County, the Sheriff’s Office reports 19 boating incidents from Jan. 1, 2010-April 21, 2015, with two of those involving kayaks, including the Sequim incident but not the Neah Bay incident.
Lynch said a majority of their cases involve kayaks.
“They are the least expensive way to get into the water,” he said.
“But there are groups we definitely recommend like the Olympic Paddlers in Port Angeles who have monthly meetings and classes on cold water survival.”
Lynch said the Coast Guard does not comment on incidents out of respect for the family and friends affected.
Change on a dime
The Clallam Sheriff’s Office’s report on the April 11 Dungeness event states officials posted a windy advisory the day before the incident but family and friends told numerous media outlets the kayakers weren’t aware of changing conditions.
Their kayaks had water pumps, rain skirts and rudders and all were wearing life preservers but only two of the seven were wearing wet suits, the Sheriff’s officials report. They also report Abiva was wearing a Type III Personal Flotation Device and dry suit, too.
Lynch said with the mountains and weather systems here, conditions can change quickly.
“It’s easy to get overwhelmed with the conditions,” he said. “It gets dicey quickly. Even for seasoned Seabees, things can escalate very quickly.”
A Dungeness boater, who asked to remain anonymous, can attest to Lynch’s statements.
Two years ago in late summer, the boater made a trek out in Dungeness Bay to retrieve crab pots in a two-person-kayak borrowed from a neighbor but the boater didn’t realize the winds were kicking up.
“I headed out, making progress with the pots,” the boater said. “But, oh my goodness, I thought, this is getting hard and I dumped the pots. I was still making progress but the winds kept kicking up,” he recalled.
“I couldn’t make any more progress and being in a double kayak, it was more than I could handle by myself. I ran out of energy to fight against it.”
The boater turned the kayak around to follow the wind but it sent the kayak east of Sequim Bay, so the boater called a neighbor from a cell phone who contacted the Coast Guard.
A Coast Guard boat came, Coast Guardsmen wrapped the boater in a blanket and went to shore.
“I had no idea how fast those winds could kick up,” the boater said. “Now my biggest recommendation is to watch the Dungeness Lighthouse’s weather site. If I see the winds increasing, forget it (going out on a boat). I’ve also had someone watching the website while I go out to see if the winds are changing so that they can call me.”
Find up-to-date weather information on Dungeness Spit at newdungenesslight.org/weather.
Tip over
Another Sequim boater, 85-year-old Eric Merrifield, said weather wasn’t an issue for him when the Coast Guard rescued him in the late 1980s. He said it was a matter of overestimating his boat and its motor’s weight.
He too was going out for crab pots but in his lightweight aluminum boat with a second-hand motor. When he reached down for the pot, his boat went under.
“There was too much weight between me, the motor and the crab pot,” Merrifield said.
He capsized but luckily his neighbor spotted him and told his wife Kitty that he may be in trouble so they called the Coast Guard who took him to shore.
“I was in the water long enough to get cold (15-20 minutes by his estimate),” Merrifield said. “They put me in a hot tub and into sleeping bags.”
Merrifield said the experience made him much more conservative on the water, especially with any white water.
He also attached a horn to the boat in case anything ever happened.
Today there is plenty of high-tech support for boaters.
Lynch said there are floating plans available through the Coast Guard’s website that give detailed instructions for people ashore to give to rescuers about your boat trip.
They also launched a smartphone application in May offering boaters a chance to request emergency assistance, report an incident, find safety regulations and more.
For more information on the Coast Guard’s online services and tips, visit www.uscgboating.org.
In addition to the New Dungeness Lighthouse’s reports for the Sequim area’s weather, visit the National Weather Service’s site for warnings at www.nws.noaa.gov/om/marine/safeboating/.
