I made the conscious decision to paddle through a squall a few years ago. Stayed offshore too long, watched it forming and mistimed heading in. I'm only a quarter mile from inlet with two TowBoat US boats watching my approach. I always thought I could paddle through one. I don't know how long it lasted but it couldn't have been more than 10 minutes of pure fury. Had waves breaking into my lap, couldn't see the bow of my kayak. Had sunscreen and saltwater in my eyes. Gave up on making it in and just pointed bow into waves and concentrated into staying upright. I was at point of total exhaustion when it finally passed and I was unsure where I was. Got blown backwards across the ship channel and a quarter mile down the beach.

AggieYak was lucky he is young, an older fart might not have been able to get that kayak turned back over. Always carry a section of heavy soft rope in case you have to tie yourself to kayak. There are circumstances where its better saving your energy while in the water vs trying to paddle it out. Also advise to learn how to swim with a paddle. It can be a lifesaver plus you can use it to signal with. Brightly colored blades held up while in the water is a winner.

And one more tip, position the kayak beam to waves/wind to help flip back over and position bow into waves to reboard.

I wouldn't trust a SPOT. This is who I deal with. http://epirbstore.com/

The guy swallows his pride enough to share this and this is your response??!!

This is some great advice. I will remember that.

I've had more than one person so far tell me that they tie themselves to their kayak when off-shore in case of capsizing so they don't get separated from the boat. I had thought about doing that before departing that day, but my main concern was getting tangled in the rope if I flipped and injuring myself. What is everyone's thought on that? Has anyone done that and flipped? Did it help? Hurt?

I definitely don't want to lose my kayak, but I also don't want to get tangled in rope and dragged underwater by my kayak as it drifts in the wind/current...

Great report ! Thanks for sharing it. REALLY glad it turned out OK.

I made a (logged on gps) 15.2 mile trip one day in a direction I really did not want to go because of a very wrong weather report. It was the first time I had ever surfed in my Hobie Outback. I strapped myself to my yak with a long tether when I figured out I could not fight the 45+ mph wind (over twice as strong and 180 degrees from the forecast direction) and turned my back to it knowing there was land far away in the distance. I made it with swells and breakers far higher than my head without capsizing until beaching, but did look like a drowned rat the entire trip. A gracious fisherman gave me and the Hobie a ride back to my truck while in total disbelief where I had launched from.

When you prepare it is still good to plan on the worst every trip.

Again, great report and thanks for sharing it with us. I look forward to the video for sure.

Phill

Poop can happen really fast.

I realize that I don't live down there so it's easy for me to say this but it seems like BTB is something that you should not do alone unless the conditions are pretty much perfect or you have lots of experience.

A couple summers back on Lake Fork I got caught in what I later learned was a derecho, which is a severe straight-line windstorm. I had been watching a very large wall cloud approach from the northwest for about an hour but guess what? The bite was INSANELY good for that 30 minutes before it got on top of me, so I stayed out. I was only about 1/2 a mile from the ramp, and in a cove, and figured I could make it back before it got rough. When it hit, wind speeds went went from 3 mph to what I later learned was no less than 85 mph in less than a minute. It was crazy. I was blown through the timber about 60 yards in no time flat. My large blade paddle was no more effective than a long toothpick and luckily it blew me into shore and I didn't capsize in the trees. I can't imagine what would've happened if the wind direction had been blowing me offshore. I found shelter under a dock that was out of water and had to tie the kayak to it because the winds were trying to pick it up. Horizontal sleet (this was June), massive webs of lightning, and 4-5 foot swells developed and and started smashing the shore line. The whole thing lasted about 20 minutes then everything abruptly returned to calm. Very strange.

I learned that day that if things look bad in the distance, GET OFF THE WATER! Glad that this experience was like mine that day: just a scary lesson learned and nothing more.

Happened to me in Nam!

Make sure if you do tie yourself off to your yak its outside the surf zone. Its good to put a wine cork on the end of your hooks also. I've seen 20/0 circles in legs before...not pretty.

Telling the story makes it no less idiotic. Taking a New kayak out for its first trip on a BTB trip... Not a good idea. Taking a new kayak on its first trip on your 2nd BTB trip ever even worse idea. Taking a new kayak out for its first trip on a BTB trip that is only your 2nd time to go BTB and do it alone... I'm sorry, but that's idiotic. Oh, and to go again the next day after you had the experience that you had the day before...

I'm thankful he made it, and good for Bobby for telling his story. Surly someone will see the error if his ways. I guarantee he won't make the same mistake twice. I would have thought that a new kayak would have been ATLEAST test driven in a lake for a short time to get a feel for it. Don't tell me that all kayaks feel the same, bc they don't. Just bc its a Hobbie doesn't mean it's unsinkable.

So, Yakjoe... Yeah that's how I respond. I doubt that adter swallowing his pride that Bobby felt any better about his decisions.

Bobby, glad your safe and I know your a great guy. You can yak with my squad anytime too. Just be more careful next time.

Glad to see you wearing your life vest

Ps.
Can't wait to see the video

One other lesson that's probably best not learned the hard way: them teeth and that hook are a little close to your arm.

Great story with a happy ending but more importantly, an intersting post. Although I didn�t get to read his comments, I know Neumie (Josh) got banned for two weeks for flaming Bobby about his trip. For those who don�t know Josh, he is arguably one of the most experienced kayak anglers on this forum and, believe it or not, is a pretty good guy who will always give you the full benefit of his brutally unfiltered opinions. He has zero tact, mind you, but he does possess a wealth of knowledge about this sport, and I consider him a subject matter expert on the topic of kayak fishing, especially in saltwater.

That said, I think that what set Josh off was not so much the stupid decisions that Bobby made on those fateful days (which even Bobby acknowledges), but what Josh perceived as Bobby�s shameless self-promotion after making those stupid decisions. Using terms like �epic adventure� and �wait till the video comes out� probably led Josh to this conclusion. And that led to the aforementioned unfiltered opinions which got him banned. The irony, I think, is that Bobby probably didn�t come up with the term �epic adventure.� This is Chris Payne�s post, and so I am assuming Chris did. Like I said: an interesting post indeed.

For the record, I have a blog as does Chris, and I shamelessly promote my blog too, so I�m not throwing stones; I�m just making some observations. I have a lot of respect for Chris� work and have cited him a couple of times. But we need to understand that some people might consider our reporting of survival stories like this one as glorifying the stupidity, and in doing so, dispensing more harm than good. But as always, I could be wrong.

Anyway, I�m glad Bobby lived to tell the tale. After seeing his other stories and videos, I think he�s a rising star in the Texas kayak angling community and I�m looking forward to some good fish tales from him in the future. I would really hate to see him kill himself by being stupid. Even worse, I would hate to see someoen else kill himself by emulating Bobby.

Riveting story. This reaffirms many things I already thought about going BTB. I like redfish bay a lot, I'll just stick to that no sharks for me. Good information in this story.

Bingo. He definitely doesn't come across as humbled by the experience. Whether he meant it this way or not, it comes across more as a frat guy after a "hold my beer and watch this" experience.

I wonder if he yelled "YOLO" while paddling through the breakers?

"epic" trips have uncontrolled variables that you overcome, not self imposed variables.

If I purposely walk up to a grizzly bear and almost get mauled to death, there is nothing "epic" about it.

If I'm gardening in my back yard and fend off a grizzly with a rake, that's an "epic" experience.