RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME

My buddy and I hit our local lake this morning but decided to stop at lunchtime because of the heat. We got to ramp and there was a boat in front of us at ramp but my buddy snuck out of lake quickly before they came with truck. There was a heavyset guy trying to launch his little sun dolphin kayak from end of pier. He was in a hurry because of boat and truck and as you can imagine dump and rolled his kayak over. Seen the tail end of him rolling and started pedaling wide open over there. Guy took forever to come up and was struggling and splashing around grabbing for whatever he could. He was out of reach of pier. He had one of those standard bright orange life jackets laying in his kayak and it did him no good. As well as his upside down kayak floating away. Reached the guy and grabbed his hand and pulled him to my kayak. Managed to get to the pier and pull him over to the side steps. Once I knew he was ok i grabbed his kayak and then went and rounded up his floating items. I believe if I hadn’t been there he might possibly have drown. Guys wear those pfd’s please.

good timing is right..and you not hesitating played a factor too..well done!!

It can go south SOOOOOO quick. Wear the vest!
Bob

We had an older gentleman fall of a pier and drown recently. It doesn't have to be far from help, just out of reach can mean a world of difference. You did good.

WTG Dave. I agree, motivate everyone to wear their PFD.

I’m just glad I was there to help. I don’t think he could swim. I don’t know if he recovered any of his lost items from the bottom of lake.

Kayak and non-swimmer? Terrible combination. As a victim of a boating accident I can tell you how horrifying it is to be in the water an extended period of time and how ecstatic it is to reach safety. Lucky for me we were all good swimmers and our pfds were easy to access.

Well done Dave! No telling what might have happened if you hadn't helped. I hope it was a learning experience for him. I also hope he gets a more suitable PFD.

Jim

Timing is everything sometimes. Good job Dave

I see a couple of things here that caused this accident. 1. impatience, or being in a rush, and 2. He got into the kayak without his PFD already on...Great job Dave. Sounds like you saved his life.