Guys just to add to the safety thread, I've complied a really comprehensive first aid kit for my boat and for canyon guys in particular its a great reference. I used this list as a starter and added as needed. I worked off the BLS Xtra list and supplimented it to fit my needs. Then I put all of the stuff in a Pelican EMS case. First attempts to use a medics bag yeilded soggy bandaids. Now everything is dry and easy to get to.
A couple watched in horror as a lightning bolt flung their teenage son 10 metres into the air as he paddled a kayak on the family dam.
When Connor Gordon, 14, woke up from his blackout on Sunday afternoon he was in the water, his fishing rod was on fire and he was not able to move his arms.
“I thought I was going to drown,” Connor said.
The Gordon family had gone down to their Redridge property dam, near Childers, to have some afternoon tea with family friends when Connor discovered a boat had floated away from its mooring.
“I decided to go for a paddle in the kayak to look for it,” he said.
He had a 1.8m-long fishing rod standing in a rod holder on the back of the kayak and was also holding an oar when he found the boat.
“Just after I yelled, ‘Mum, Dad, I found it’, I heard a big bang and blacked out,” he said.
“I hit the water, opened my eyes and could see perfectly.”
The fishing rod was on fire and the kayak paddle was missing.
Although he was able to move his legs, his arms were paralysed and straight as iron rods in front of him.
As he struggled to move his arms, dad Kris ran into the water and began to swim towards his son, who was about 100 metres offshore.
“I just dived in and started swimming towards him,” Kris said.
Mum Joanne grabbed another kayak and began a desperate paddle towards the boy.
They finally reached Connor, who had been able to start moving his arms slowly through the water.
After the couple got him back to shore, they raced to meet the ambulance.
Connor said his hands were tingling after the taking the hit, his hair was singed and he had superficial burn marks — coloured blue — on his wrists and lower back, which had disappeared by yesterday afternoon.
He said his ears had stopped ringing by the time he got to the ambulance, but every time he closed his eyes to go to sleep on Sunday night he could hear the crack of the lightning as it hit him.
“I just kept on having these flashbacks the whole night,” he said.
“I kept hearing the banging sound.”
Brandishing his fishing rod, now about 50cm long and frayed at the end after becoming the lightning’s conductor, Connor said he wanted to thank the paramedics and doctors who treated him at Bundaberg Hospital.
Mr Gordon said Connor was not so worried about buying a lotto ticket after his lucky escape, but he did want a new fishing rod.
“This is a definite warning to people,” Mr Gordon added.
“If there are any storms around, get under shelter and always wear a life jacket when on the water.”
I've had the boat struck once (indirectly- in heavy FOG!) through the groundplate (lost two VHF's and the LORAN and have had many bolts strike very close to the boat on more than one occasion (water turns iridescent blue and sizzles). Localized weather patterns can generate unforecast 'weather events' from late spring through the fall. If you spend enough time on te water.. you WILL get caught in a T-storm. For that reason, the XM/Sirius weather receivers on the CP's are worth their weight in gold whether fishing in the Sound or outside of Block Island/Montauk Point. You'll see what's going on long before the horn on the NOAA WX broadcasts start blaring. By-the-way... graphite rods make for perfect lightning conductors. Lay them down rather than stick them in rod holders. Not preaching.. just stating the facts gleaned over three decades of charter fishing.
seawatch
Member
Registered: 07/21/05
Posts: 353
Loc: Montauk
Now that so many EPIRBs are out there, I sometimes wonder how the Coast Guard views EPIRB signals. Are they more lackadaisical due to false alarms? Do they gather more info to try to determine the nature of the distress before launching?
At a holiday party a few weeks ago I had the pleasure of talking with an affable Coast Guard officer who handled incoming EPIRB signal response. I asked one specific question: "If they get a signal from a registered EPIRB in the northeast canyons, how do they respond?"
He said for signals in the area of the canyons we fish they would immediately move to launch a helo with rescue swimmers and a paramedic to establish visual and radio contact. There is no delay. If they get a signal, they go. The helo would most likely be launched out of Sandwich, MA, on western Cape Cod.
Gotta love the Coast Guard.
�Perhaps I should not have been a fisherman, he thought. But that was the thing that I was born for.� -- Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea
That is good news. I keep two on my boat. One is mounted in a bracket in the cockpit, and has a hydrostatic release. The other is packed inside the liferaft.
I've got gas and I've got crabs. You wanna go out?
"Well, the trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant; it's just that they know so much that isn't so.� - Ronald Reagan
"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." - Dr. Seuss
John from Madison CT
OffshoreFishingGear.com
Registered: 06/28/02
Posts: 15906
Loc: Old Saybrook (formerly Madison...
Something to wet your whistle.................the 2nd Offshore Night of the season (Feb. 21st) will have a presentation by LRSE (Life Raft Survival Equipment) of Tiverton, R.I..
Leppe
Member
Registered: 06/21/12
Posts: 68
Loc: Norwalk, CT
heading offshore next weekend and looking to rent/borrow a life raft. My cousin Eppe is taking ours and i was looking to have one on the grady for the weekend. It would be July 19, 20, 21st. I could have it back on July 22nd.
seawatch
Member
Registered: 07/21/05
Posts: 353
Loc: Montauk
Quote:
“We launched a 47-foot motor life boat from Coast Guard Station Shinnecock, a 27-foot rescue boat from Station Moriches, and a HH-60 rescue helicopter from Air Station Cape Cod immediately,” said Peter Winters, a civilian search and rescue controller at Sector Long Island Sound.
The quote is from an article Gerg quoted upthread. I met the aforementioned Peter Winters on a Cross Sound Ferry a few weeks ago. He's a very affable guy. I talked with him about what CG number is the best number to call, if you can and want to call, in the event of an on(in) water emergency. I thought it would be the Rescue Coordination Center number in Boston, or the RCC in Norfolk which oversees Boston, and I listed both of those numbers earlier in this thread.
Peter said, nope. He said to cut to the quick, call his work number: 203-468-4401.
Once again, ya gotta love the USCG.
�Perhaps I should not have been a fisherman, he thought. But that was the thing that I was born for.� -- Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea