A family in Washington State was saved from the frigid bay waters on Monday after their sea kayaks were swamped by high winds and waves near Lummi Island. Officials with the U.S. Coast Guard\u2019s Bellingham Station, which coordinated the successful rescue, said the group\u2019s use of a Garmin inReach was \u201ccrucial\u201d for their quick recovery.<\/p>\n
USCG Lt. Terrel Sisk, the commanding officer who oversaw the rescue, tells Outdoor Life<\/em> that they first received an SOS signal from the family\u2019s Garmin inReach<\/a> around 4 p.m. The entire operation took a little over an hour, and rescuers had the family back on dry land by 5:15 p.m. Nobody in the party was badly injured, but some were on the brink of hypothermia by the time rescuers arrived.<\/p>\n \u201cIf they were in that water for any longer, we definitely would be dealing with a different case,\u201d Sisk says.<\/p>\n Photo by USCG<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Although there are some lessons to be learned from the family\u2019s experience on Bellingham Bay, the USCG emphasized in a Facebook post<\/a> that the adults in the party were experienced paddlers. The group included four adults, one child, and a small dog. They were all wearing life vests, including the dog. Paddling in two three-seater sea kayaks roughly a mile west of Lummi Island, the group was caught off guard by high winds, which kicked up three- to five-foot waves that quickly swamped their boats. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAs soon as they hit that section where the wind picked up, that\u2019s where stuff started to go wrong,\u201d Sisk explains. \u201cNow people are in the water and panic is starting to set in \u2026 and they couldn\u2019t get the water out of their boats fast enough. As soon as they would get the water out of one of the kayaks, the next wind wave would fill it back up.\u201d<\/p>\n Read Next:<\/strong> Watch: Fishing Guide Rescues Kayaker from Deadly Low-Head Dam<\/a><\/p>\n Neither of the kayaks were recovered, Sisk says, because rescuers were focused on getting the family out and the boats were too long to easily bring aboard. It\u2019s unclear if the paddlers were wearing spray skirts (also known as spray decks), which would have prevented water from entering the boats. \u00a0<\/p>\n Sisk says that regardless, they could have been much better prepared with cold-water immersion gear. Some had neoprene shirts or wetsuits on, which Sisk says provided some warmth as they waited in the 50-degree water, but they should have been wearing dry suits instead. \u00a0<\/p>\n Photo by USCG<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n \u201cThe child did have a neoprene shirt on, but it was the kind of gear you\u2019d wear when you\u2019re not planning on going in the water,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n This gets at two cardinal rules of what to wear when kayaking<\/a>: Always dress according to the water temperature and not the air temperature, and always be prepared for a swim.<\/p>\n One of the adults in the group hit the SOS button<\/a> on their inReach immediately after the boats swamped. Sisk says the adults were able to get the dog and child back into the water-filled kayaks, while they stayed in the water and waited for rescue.<\/p>\n Photo by USCG<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n All kayakers should learn and practice self-rescue techniques so they\u2019re prepared if they capsize, and anyone recreating on open seas should check detailed wind and weather forecasts. Sisk says this incident just goes to show that conditions can change rapidly on the water, and that it\u2019s always harder to perform under pressure.<\/p>\n![\"Coast](\"https:\/\/www.outdoorlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/coast_guard_rescues_washington_sea_kayakers_3.jpg?w=1125\")
![\"Coast](\"https:\/\/www.outdoorlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/coast_guard_rescues_washington_sea_kayakers_4.jpg?w=1125\")