G'day Jaryd, great to read you came out of this with just your ego dented and a lesson or two learn't, shame the video did not have the roll
. Like many of us, we do learn (or at least did) learn the hard way, but we always practice and at least try to prepare ourselves before taking on such conditions.
Jenko wrote:Good to see everyone safe Kelly & Jarard, but I would like to add that it's not only the sea that can kick up quick, I've seen shallow lakes like Lake Tooliorook go from flat as a sh!t carters hat to as rough as guts in minutes. Another popular spot which can get really nasty and can catch out people not familiar with the place is Mallacoota...been caught out there myself.
Only last year on Victorian lakes, was it lake Eldon, cannot remember the other name, there were two lives lost (kayakers) and another barely survived, due to bad weather conditions. Another experienced yak fisherman in QLD also lost due to poor conditions on a lake.
Then the two lives lost on the same bay as these video's were shot (PPB), just how quick it can change.
Any open mass of water has the potential to turn nasty in poor conditions, and one of the biggest threats is where we head for safety, the shoreline. Unless you are paddling/pedaling directly into the weather/wind, generally the shore line is the shallowest (but do not dismiss shallow reefs or sand bars, as they two will have the same effect). Also take into account the size of a wave and what actually is a wave.
A wave is not a mass of water moving, it is energy moving through the water mass, and where deeper water has somewhere for that energy to be lost, shallow water does not. When that energy moves through deeper water, it is slow and spreads out as it reaches down deeper. However, as that energy moves into more shallow water, it builds up height as well as speed, along with the water it is traveling through.
That energy has to go somewhere and it spares no mercy to anything floating on the surface. One wrong move (as both Vodakin and I can attest to), it will slam you down before you can say, "I stuffed up". What happens from there, is a bl##dy lot of luck, whether you have practiced and are at "least" partially prepared will play a big part in your safety.
If you take notice of the guys whom are always launching through heavy surf, they carry very minimal (apart from safety) equipment, and what they do carry is stored inside the hull. When they head through the surf, everything is stored below and it should be the same if you find yourself caught out in rough conditions. The very moment you realise it is going to get nasty, everything above the deck that will fit below and is not needed, should be placed inside the hull and everything else that is not needed, should be strapped down. Also at that very same time, fishing should stop, and your only priority should be to get on dry land as soon and as safely as possible. Think about the shoreline and not necessarily about the place you launched from, what will the coastal fringe be like, is the beach where you launched from open, or are there any small bays that may offer better protection (don't forget, bay entrances are often shallow and can have the potential to have similar wave speed and height as a surf break). It may be safer to head for the protection of a different launch site and then call or ask for assistance from there.
Looking at Jaryd's video and trying to get something from it; His losses would have been far less if the rods/holders, net etc were all stowed inside the hull when he first realized he had made a mistake by going out. Personal safety (including but not restricted to), entanglement, being hooked on a lure, even a puncture wound from a broken rod, reaching for equipment washed overboard, increases ten fold if the equipment isn't stowed below deck.
If the equipment was stowed, Jaryd would not have even had to try to recover the net in the first place, he would have been able to give 85% of his time, energy and thoughts to reading the water and attempting to maintain balance (15% lost to adrenalin enjoying the ride by the sound of it
).
Eddie