Back in 1979 we didn't have the best conditions but we finished.

You never know it could turn out to be this big.

Photo John O'Sullivan.

Some of the Sandy Beach Saturday morning paddlers testing out the white water above Amiens.

WAs Yale Steinepreis. 

Celebrating 50 Years of Paddling

Steve Pilton, Me, Roger Smith and Frank Salter on Rottnest Island after paddling there is slalom kayaks.

On the Avon River using a Sabre kayak I made.

The first expedition sea kayaks that came into West Australia were called the Nordkapp. Very small cockpit, 8" hatches, no rudder.

The very small cockpit made it difficult to get out. 
Launching near the Gap, Albany. 

Paddling the tidal ocean in England. Jenny with my friend Fred and wife Beryl.

At Augusta with Trevor Thompson and Ed Bartosiak.

Croatia Sea Kayaking

& Trying To Save a Life

As John and I were paddling around a corner towards a campsite at the town of Jelsa, on the island of Hvar, Croatia, a person on the bank shouted help and pointed towards two men in the water. I paddled quickly towards the two men and realised they were holding up an unconscious person who was extremely white, had no life in her and had froth around her mouth. We were at least 80 metres from shore near the line of buoys that marked the extent of the swimming area. Apparently she had been in the water for quite a while before the two rescuers got there.

The two rescuers had a cheap short inflatable lilo with them and without success had been trying to get her on to it to push her to shore, but they couldn’t. She was too heavy and they were having a hard job just trying to keep her head above water. Being a swimmer she had no buoyancy aid to help her float.

I thought it near impossible to give any first aid out in the bay so I told the guys to grab my kayak, hold on and keep her head above water and I would tow them in. Unfortunately it was too hard for them to hang onto the kayak and the lady, so I gave them a rope that I had in my spray deck pocket, clipped it on to my PFD and told them to tie it under her arms.

Once she was secured I started paddling as strong as I could towards shore. It was hard work and painfully slow, but I was dragging the 2 guys and the lady. I headed for the concrete jetty where people were standing looking very concerned. It felt it took forever, but eventually I managed to get them to the jetty, I jumped out of my kayak and started ordering people into action. The guys took her around to the end of the jetty to where they could stand. 

People were still looking and not helping so I continued organising people as we had to lift her up out of the water half a metre. Someone through a towel down on the jetty and I got two guys on shore to help me lift as the other two guys in the water lifted her up to us. 

We managed to get her up and on her side to clear her airway and mouth. It wasn’t a pretty sight. I couldn’t feel any pulse nor could one of the rescuers who was German, but it was hard to be sure. I started measuring my hand placement to give her chest compressions when froth came out of her mouth again so we put her back on her side to clear her airway. The other rescuer checked her breathing and pulse again which he couldn’t find so we put her on her back to start compressions once more when a local women said she could feel a faint pulse and indicated that we should not give compressions and put her back on her side. She put doubt in our minds and although we thought we should be giving her chest compressions the women was quite adamant she could feel a pulse. Not being a local or understanding the language we took her word for it.

Within a few minutes of getting her on shore the ambulance arrived with a medic running down. She started compressions, another medic brought breathing apparatus and put a tube into her mouth. They kept trying but the life had been sucked out of her and unfortunately she never recovered. We left it to the medics and police and went on our way and put our tents up about 50 metres away. 

The lady had been unconscious in the water a long time. Apparently she had been signalling when she got into trouble but people on the shore didn’t think she was in trouble, then she started shouting, but people were reluctant to swim out to her for the fear of themselves being dragged down. 

Then a young guy and a 30 year old German man swam out with a small lilo, but she had stopped waving and shouting well before they got to her. Her leg was still hooked around the buoy rope when they reached her. The buoys however were only small and didn’t support her weight.

We were told later that the medics thought she might have had a heart attack whilst swimming.

The body of the lady lies on the jetty waiting to be transported to the ambulance. Her friend is contacting family.

At the World Marathon Championships in China.

To Wear or Not To Wear

A PFD

Although I have always worn a PFD in whitewater and the ocean, it was when I turned 60 that I decided to wear a PFD every time I went paddling which is virtually every day and for 4-6 days a week I’m on the water twice a day. So in the last 14 years I have worn my PFD thousands of times and on my expeditions I’m wearing one for 5 to 9 hours a day. So a PFD has become part of my paddling gear which carries my water, my camera, my car keys, my small knife, some money and my whistle.
At 74 I still feel fit and so far my body has never missed a beat and even when I’m paddling at my hardest I have never felt any inkling that I might have a black-out, get dizzy or have a medical episode which may affect my balance whilst on the water. (I have seen other paddlers who have experienced a medical episode and should have been wearing a PFD. They were lucky, some aren't.) 
However it’s impossible to know if something is going to happen to me one day to trigger a blackout or a capsize that threatens my life so I would rather be prepared and float if I go in.
Paddlers should not only think about themselves, they should also think about their loved ones they might leave behind and how traumatic it would be for them. Wearing a PFD will also help others that might be there to rescue you.
I find it very strange that older paddlers or paddlers with known health issues don’t wear a PFD. I also can’t understand why the family of those older paddlers don’t encourage them to wear a PFD. Clubs, coaches and race organisers should also do more to promote the wearing of PFDs.
Paddlers have died because they weren’t wearing a PFD after a capsize. You don't have to be on the white water, or in the wilderness to drown. It can happen on your local river. You don't even have to be old. If you have no buoyancy to hold you up after a serious medical episode it could end tragically.

I know PFDs can be warm in hot weather, they can also be annoying, but you get used to them especially the newer lighter ones.
In some cases they might not even save your life after a capsize, but the chances in doing so are much greater and at least you will float rather than sink underwater to float up several days later after bloating.
At a World Masters Marathon Championships I am usually the only one wearing a PFD and that includes paddlers older than me. At such a championship I do feel the odd one out, but when I remembered the reason why I am wearing one, that feeling soon passes. And it doesn’t hinder my performance, in fact having water within sipping distance keeps me hydrated.

Don’t be the one that people say – you died doing what you loved to do! 

Why not just wear a PFD and stay alive!

At the World Masters Championships in Denmark.

With Dave Berglund.

Birds Along The Way

A young Osprey.

Spoonbill.

Whistling Kite.