Kayaking Tragedy- Lessons Learned and River Safety

Ben Earle picture on the Hokitika river in New Zealand- Photo by Maggie Crocker

Last week, i watched as my best friend and amazing boater Ben Earle got vertically pinned and stuffed under a log. I watched as he struggled for air before drowning right in front of my eyes. Its is an experience i will never forget till my dyeing day.

What it made me realize is the number of people in the whitewater community over the years whom both Ben and i have paddled with, who have had no rescue training what so ever. It is very disappointing indeed  We have paddled with some of the best boaters, whom i grew up watching on videos only to find out that in the field of river safety where completely ignorant

Fistly my advice to ANYBODY who plans to paddle on moving water is to take the time to attend a rescue course. these courses are available in many forms depending on where in the world you live, but the most common being Swiftwater Rescue Technician (SRT)

They are designed to give river users techniques and skills that could potentially save their own life or sombody around them. 

All my creeking companions hold rescue certification and the skills they have, on more than one occasion, have saved my life and i have saved theirs. It is a skill that we should all have and practice regularly.

Ask yourself this, ... could you live with yourself watching your friend or family member drown, knowing that there are skills you could have had, which may have saved their life?!?

...I know that i could not live with myslef....

Ben's situation was a very complicated one, and i am at peace that i tried everything i could.

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Throwbags come in many shapes and sizes, get one and learn how to use it. I guarantee that if you paddle long enough you will likely save more than one life during your career

On every paddling trip at least one breakdown paddle should be carried and all boats fitted with stern float bags.
Carabiners are an important tool on any rescuers arsinal, they can be used to attach rope to either the boat, anchor or towline of a rescue PFD.

It is very important that any carabiner that is exposed on your pfd (ie. not in a pocket) is a locked. locking carabiner should be screwed closed so as not to clip onto anything else on the river.

Pictured above: right-left:

QUICK-LOCK- a good option for cow tails where they may need to be unlocked quickely and lock instantly after letting it go.

SCREW GATE- Is a great option as part of a rescue kit and the best option if you plan yo carry them on the outside of your PFD.

QUICK- CLIP- Not a bad option when left in the back of your boat. They should never be left exposed on your PFD

Knife's come in all shapes and sizes, and they are a must when carreying rope of any description. Saw's are also a good option when paddling creeks
I urge you to think very strongly about the following point. To understand what i am talking about, Wedge your kayak in-between the chair and bench on your local picnic table, climb in and put your deck on.

Now try and get out without using your hands, it can be virtually impossible.

Above is a picture of the foot-block on my Fluid solo, Note that the center pillar has notches in it which act as steps to assist in getting yourself out using nothing but your legs
This is an example of another company's foam center pillar. Those of you who tried getting out of your boat and have a foam pillar similar, you will understand that it is impossible. If your boat does not have steps, try sculpting them out of foam or replace your boat completely. there are many company's out there who's creek boats have this feature, i urge you to chose one of them and convince your friends to do the same

Above is a picture of two types of rescue vests. There are many on the market and everybody who intends on paddling on creeks should own one with a harness. there are many points to be made regarding the PFD, but you MUST make sure that your river knife and quick release are as close to the center of your torso as possible. This provides you with the best possible chances to utilize them should you be pinned and the water forcing your hands away from your body

For those of you who knew Ben, you knew that he took river safety very seriously. Even those who didn't know him personally, i urge you to do one thing for him while it is fresh in your mind. Please take off your next weekend from boating and instead attend a rescue course with your friends, chat about what you would do in a desperate situation and go over your river signals. Then get back out their and Huck your meat safely.

I just finished one yesterday, i could not think of anywhere i would rather be after his funeral than scrubbing up on the skills that he was so very competent at. I owe my life to his skills on more than one occasion and for that i will never forget.

Rest In Peace Benji

Adrian Kiernan

Fatal Kayaking Accident - Ben Earle

Date of post: Friday June 6th 2008

Photo by Josh Firth

Friends and Paddling Community, 

As i'm sure many of you are now already aware. Ben Earle, Age 25, Drowned while kayaking down a creek in BC - Canada

On Sunday ben and i put on to Finn Creek, Within the first 1km Ben was sucked underneath a log that was not visible from the waters surface and unable to pull his skirt. Many attempts to rescue him failed and after 30mins I had to leave to call 911.

After 2 and a half days of rescue attempts by the search and rescue (Many of them Ben's close personal friends), managed to pull Ben, and the boat he was paddling out. Ben sustained no major injuries and close relatives and friends have had the chance to go and visit him before being cremated. A service will be held for him in his canadian home of Clearwater- BC on Saturday.

Ben died doing something he loved, exploring a new river. He died not due to a fatal mistake of judgment or going outside his more than capable paddling ability. He was simply claimed by a log that he could not see, even after standing directly in front of it to scout, unawares of the danger lurking beneath the surface. A tragic incident indeed.

Ben Earle is Probably the most competent and experienced river user i know. Growing up in Tasmania Australia, he was exposed to the way of life that came with running rivers at an early age compared to many. In a relatively short time he has rafted and kayaked all over the world and introduced hundreds if not thousands of people to the joys of the river. He was a sponsored paddler for fluid kayaks and WRSI helmets and a great contributer to river safety in the paddling community. He was one of the key organisors of the clearwater river festival and is a devastating loss to the paddling community in general, not to mention his his family and friends.

I do not wish to leave to many details of the incident here, but if anybody would like further information on the incident, updates on service arrangments or to be put in touch with any of Ben's family and friends, I will do my best to bring you into the loop.

I am contactable @ goboatingaus(@gmail.com)

and you can try calling me on +1 250 674 7001

Ben is and was one of my closest friends, It is a very difficult loss for me personally to deal with. But our thoughts and prayers must go out to Ben's Family, Mum, Dad, Sister and Brother Especially his Wife Robin and his two beautiful children Rio and Finn who will miss their father greatly 

Ben and I feeling a bit seedy after a big first night of the clearwater river festival

 Bens with some of his close friends, (from left) Jimmy, Ben, Boz, Thorpie and Matt on a trip down the Stein River in 2007

Rest in peace Benji

Adrian Kiernan

SOTA Trade Show - Kayak4play & Fluid kayaks

After my Breif visit to sydney for the Australian Freestyle Nationals i jumped on a plane and headed south to meet up with leigh (K4P) to help out on the both at the annual SOTA trade show.

There was HUGE amount of interest in the fluid kayaks range (http://www.fluidkayaks.com/) especially the "element", fluids new surf boat. It should be a huge hit over here in Australia with shops lining up to be part of the "user-friendly" surf kayak revolution!

The New Element surf kayak with the distinct "sexy lady k4p logo

As always the Immersion research, H2O paddle and Astral PFD Range, created strong interest. Their new product ranges bringing paddle comfort together with the normal bomb-proof quality products and affordable pricing which has kept them favorites for years now.

Leigh keeping a "Eye" on potential beer theivery...or comtemplating his own...

The Australian importer Leigh Wighton from kayak4play in Tasmanian was there to help out with technical advice on products and pricing while i was busy chatting up a storm at the fluid tent, However this was after spending the first morning trying to unlock the boats from his roof rack after screwing up a borrowed combination lock.....stupid.

...So much for "helping"....

Cheers BEERS and happy boating in the EXPD Solo

Adrian Kiernan

Fluid kayak and Kayak4play Athlete

Australian Freestyle Nationals 2008

Australian Mens Freestyle Champion: Adrian Kiernan warming up on the skippy feature.
Australian Junior Freestyle Champion: James Rolo charging to victory in the finals!

A great weekend was had by all with 28 competitors. It was great to see that half of these competitors were juniors. The junior men's was held on Jack's with James Rowlinson placing first followed by Declan Czajkowski in second and Morgan James in third.The junior women's event was held on the wave just above last drop (no name) and was won by Emily Kaar followed up by Avril Moore in second placing.By lunch time Saturday the seniors still did not have a suitable feature although we had been working on Fryer for the past couple of weeks we could not get it back to a good feature. Luckily there was a stopper just behind Fryer which was upsetting the rafts and they turned the water ... we immediately set to with some alterations to the bollards and when the water was turned back on we had a great feature to run the senior K1 events on. A good steep wave that we classed as unobtainable and so we set forth on the prelims for the rest of Saturday.Sunday started with finals of K1 with the following placings,

Men's

1st Adrian Kiernan
2nd Liam Corr
3rd Russ Boza

Adrian Kiernan throwing down in the finals.

Our only Women's K1 contender was Christine Haylock, a new arriver to our shores but willing competitor, who has flown off to Darwin with a gold to start her new job. Good luck Christine.C1 and OC1 were held on Jack's with a few trying the single paddle for the first time in comp.C1 placings were

1st Jez Blanchard
2nd James Rowlinson
3rd Liam Corr

OC1: 1st Liam Corr with the other places going to Jez Balnchard, James Rowlinson and Russ Boza to work out with their unique styles of competing.Even though the weather was a little cold, wet and windy a great time was had by all and we were pleased with the turnout.I would like to thank the following sponsors who donated to the prizes over the weekend.Feed the Rat, Cumec magazine, Wetspot, Enrtopy Gear, Dagger Kayaks, Lounge Kayaker & Wavemonkey.And a really big thank you for Jez Blanchard who took on the role a MC for most of the weekend and has been encouraging the junior development at Penrith along with Mark Hammer and Liam Corr as well as everyone else who helped in the organization and setting up for the event.We also had the NSW premier of Downunder the Horizonline on Saturday night which was a great night for all. (some were still feeling the effects on Sunday well into the comp)We should have some video up on Lounge Kayaker soon and some pics in Cumec mag sometime in the future so keep a lookout for them.Otherwise thanks to everyone for making it a great weekend and hopefully we can have some more events in the future.

Adrian maximizing the airtime on a bouncy "fryer" feature.

Thanks very much to Jim for the write up and Maggie Crocker for the pictures.

California 2008

For some reason this post wont go to the top of the page where it belongs.??!...oh well...

Pictures Tell 1,000 words....

A selection of lifestyle pictures by Maggie Crocker.

*Stay tuned for video update coming soon*

Featured Athletes: Jimmy Lohrey, Sean Boz, Ben Earl, Rush Sturges and Adrian Kiernan.

CAMBODIA

Traveling through cambodia. . . .Adrian + Monks

REEL PADDLING FILM FEST

Skippy Films World premier tour of Downunder the Horizonline is about to start. Dates for full feature premiers will be released soon however the Skippy Films Crew is proud to announce a 10 min showcase will be shown as part of the Reel Film Festival.

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February 7, 2008 Toronto, ON The Complete Paddler
February 16, 2008 Thunder Bay, ON Chaltrek & Ostrom Outdoors
February 16 & 17, 2008 New York, NY Hudson River Paddling Guild
February 20, 2008 Pembroke, ON Algonquin College in th Ottawa Valley
February 23, 2008 Kingston, NY Kenco the Work and Play Outfitter
February 29, 2008 Kamloops, BC Thompson Rivers University -Adventure Studies Department
March 4, 2008 Calgary, AB Aquabatics

March 5 & 6, 2008 Victoria, BC Ocean River Sports
March 9, 2008 San Ignacio, BZ Belize Canoe Association
March 12, 2008 Abbotsford, BC Western Canoing & Kayaking
March 13, 2008 North Creek, NY Avantura

March 22, 2008 Waterloo, ON Princess Cinemas
March 27, 2008 Kingston, ON Trailhead Kingston
March 28, 2008 Owen Sound, ON Suntrail Outfitters Inc
March 28, 2008 Sudbury, ON Ramakko’s Source for Adventure
March 28, 2008 Somerset, NJ The Jersey Paddler

April 3, 2008 Vancouver, BC MEC
April 5, 2008 Yellowknife, NWT Paddlers for Parts Association
April 9, 2008 Gaspe, QU Cegep de la Gaspesie et des iles
April 12, 2008 Ottawa, ON Trailhead Ottawa
April 13, 2008 Leamington, ON Pelee Wings Nature Store
April 16 & 17, 2008 Arlington, MA REI
April 25, 2008 Gettysburg, PA Gettysburg College
April 25, 2008 Timmins, ON Porcupine Ski Runners Inc
April 30, 2008 Huntsville, ON Algonquin Outfitters
May 2, 2008 Nobel, ON White Squall Paddling Centre
May 17, 2008 Palmer Rapids, ON Rapid Media Inc
May 16-18, 2008 Old Forge, NY JMF Publishing INC
May 23, 2008 Unknown Adventure Attic
May 24, 2008 Minneapolis. MN Midwest Mountaineering
June 13, 2008 Forester Falls, ON Madawaska Kanu Centre
June 14 & 15, 2008 Unknown Aquan Sports
June 20 & 21, 2008 Holland, MI Kayak-Kayak
June 20. 2008 Rossport, ON Naturally Superior Adventures
September 19, 2008 Port Townsend, WA West Coast Sea Kayak Symposium
September 25 - 27, 2008 Aransas Pass, TX Everythign Kayak! Expo

Tickets for the premier will be available January 1st through The Complete Paddler. Reserve yours today!
The Complete Paddler919 Oxford StreetToronto, Ontario416.255.6905

Final stages

so after months of editing and over a years filming, we finally have the finished film complete, it is now getting menu's and being mass produced for your kayak-porn viewing pleasure. here is a copy of the finished art work


www.skippyfilms.com

adrian kiernan

NEW TRAILER

The SKIPPY FILMS presents their second trailer of the upcoming international film
"Downunder the Horizonline"

Film Available Through Heliconia Press



Adrian Kiernan

Skippy Films Update

Check out the Skippy Films Webpage. You can even listen to the music that will be on the DVD via an online music player.

“Australian bands and artists have really got behind the project and we have an amazing soundtrack that really rocks.” ColinThe three Australian mates have signed up 11 Australian bands/artists covering a large spectrum including Rock, Hip Hop, Funk, Roots, Punk, Indie, Reggae and Electronic.

“The bands are from all over Australia. We hand picked them and they all really wanted to get on board.” Jez
“One of the bands, ‘Blue King Brown’ is quite big in Australia. We were quite surprised at the response we got from all these bands.” Adrian

Music will have a heavy influence on the kayaking film by the crew of three from Australia calling themselves ‘Skippy Films’. Their feature ‘Downunder the Horizonline’ will be available in Spring 2008 via The Heliconia Press.

Skippy Films also has teamed up with long time film distributor The Heliconia Press. The three Australian budding film makers have exploded onto the film scene after taking their cameras all over the world throughout the past year.

“We were going to these places anyway, and thought that maybe we should take a camera as well” Colin Furmston

The trio are furiously editing, getting their film ready to be released in 2008.