CG saves man trying to cross Pacific in kayak

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Les Hall

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LOS ANGELES – The U.S. Coast Guard says a man is "lucky to be alive" after he was rescued 11 days into an attempted kayak voyage from California to Hawaii.

A helicopter spotted the 57-year-old man, who had turned back to California, in the Pacific on Tuesday about 60 miles southwest of Santa Barbara's Point Conception after he sent a distress call indicating equipment failure, the Coast Guard said in a statement.

The helicopter directed a Coast Guard cutter crew to the man, who was found in good health, the statement said. His name was not released.

A friend of the man said he had left Monterey on May 30th attempting to make the voyage of nearly 2,400 miles to Honolulu in a kayak with a solar panel that charged all his electronic equipment.

The solar panel malfunctioned on Saturday and the man turned back, but sent out the distress call when he couldn't find his way.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/06/11/coast-guard-saves-man-trying-to-cross-pacific-in-kayak/

I'll bet it's this guy

http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/2012/08/03/kayaker-sets-off-on-solo-trip-across-the-pacific/

This idiot should have to pay the cost of the helicopter and patrol boat required to rescue him.
 
I think the guy's a moron. He is lucky to be alive. Equipment failure how about operator error?
Bill
 
The primary equipment failure was the equipment between his ears. I've got no problem with some idiot wanting to set a new world record for crossing the pacific in a kayak but the rest of us shouldn't have to pay for his rescue. Neither the Pacific nor the North Atlantic likes idiots.

The guy was 60 miles off the coast after 11 days. That's about 5.5 miles per day. The guy estimated the trip would take about two months. At that rate, the 2400 miles would take 436 days or well over a year. I'll bet he only had a few months worth of food on board.
 
The gene pool might have been better off if The Coast Guard didn't find him.
 
Worst part is that the CG, being the nice guys that they are, will probably recover the kayak as well so the next time the guy goes off his meds he'll try it again.
 
We don't know have far he traveled when he turned back. No matter what he is a fool for trying such a stunt!
 
Dave, the article says, "The solar panel malfunctioned on Saturday and the man turned back, but sent out the distress call when he couldn't find his way." They picked him up on Tuesday. So, yes, he may have spent a couple of days paddling back - or at least paddling somewhere. I guess he was lost without his GPS.
 
My Trip across the Pacific and Back on a Troop Ship taught me a lot of Valuable lessons.
The only reason to go on that BIG water is to fish. Then back home before Dark.
 
quote:
Originally posted by Les Hall

Worst part is that the CG, being the nice guys that they are, will probably recover the kayak as well so the next time the guy goes off his meds he'll try it again.

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If they are really nice guys, they would sink the kayak even though he might try again anyway cause there's no stoppin stupid.

(waiting for my anchor btw)
 
Anchor set. And yes, I'll bet they would love to be able to sink it. But if they did, they'd get sued. At some point, our congress needs to get out of the bar and create a policy for this sort of thing. People set sail across the Atlantic and Pacific in absurdly small boats, including row boats, to set records. There's no reason in the world why we should have spend 10s of thousands of dollars to go rescue them. They should be responsible for the costs.
 
Sounds like he could not figure out the sun comes up in the east where land would be hard to miss and may have neglected to take along a cheap compass for navigation at night but heck who would of thought of that.

I suspect he really just got so constipated he couldn't see anything but brown .

Attempting a way-beyond-any-reasonable-favorable-outcome stunt like that without accompanying private capable support craft is only acceptable if he doesn't have the ability to call for public assistance. Even if he hoped to take advantage of the California Current to make a big southerly loop to the westward North Equatorial Current, that attempted trip would have been much, much longer than the 2400 statute miles referenced.

I have to wonder if he had never planned to go much farther than he did and just wanted the publicity. Still, I'm glad he's Ok, and realistically a rescue only 60 mi out( 120 ++ round trip) to a known precise coordinate is not exactly truly extreme.
 
CG helicopters cost about $4K an hour to operate. Cutters about $1.5K. It adds up quickly, even on a 60 mile each way trip.
 
quote:
Originally posted by Les Hall

CG helicopters cost about $4K an hour to operate. Cutters about $1.5K. It adds up quickly, even on a 60 mile each way trip.

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Les, your numbers must be older - at a training this past spring a CG boating safety expert put the number for 'copter Search and Rescue (SAR) closer to $11K/hr
 
exactly - he needs the mental help. But somehow these "charitable" ventures wind up paying for the boat, supplies, meals, hotels, etc.
 
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