Yesterday I went out on the lake Geneva with the Northern 20..35 km/h wind and the air and water temperature about +5 C. I had asked a couple of buddies to join, but they had other commitments, so I decided to go on my own (Mistake no. 1).
I was wearing a drysuit with thin under layer (Mistake no. 2) to avoid excessive sweating, PFD, poggies, neopren cap, and a leash. The leash was attached with a velcro strap to the foot strap of the ski and the other end to my PFD with a carabiner hook. I carried my mobile phone in the front pocket of the PFD along with a whistle.
I paddled out and first turned down-wind for a few hundreds of meter before turning up against the wind staying within some 200-300 m from the shore. I was then knocked off by a cross-wave and didn't have trouble remounting the ski. When I was about the get going, I was knocked off again and this time I couldn't immediate grab hold on the boat. I knew that I had the leash so I calmly took a stroke or two towards the boat only realising that the distance was getting greater. I then saw the snapped leash in the water and knew that there was no way I could catch it up anymore.
There were no boats in sight, nobody on the shore. Fortunately, I was only about 150 m away from the shore, so I decided to swim back pushing the paddle in front of me. It was actually not easy swim in a dry suit and I knew I wasn't properly dressed for any prolonged swim in these temperatures. Instead of couple of minutes of pool swim over similar distance it took me way longer to get back on the land.
After climbing over the wave breaker I noticed a couple of guys sitting on their sailing boat. I signalled that I had lost my boat that was bouncing away more that 500 m further down on the lake. Using the motor they went to bring the ski back (with GPS and the GoPro attached to it). From the GPS data it turned out the the ski had been drifting between 3 and 5 km/h, and the GoPro footage showed the snapped leash already when I fell of the first time.
This happened on a lake in moderate conditions and luckily in a spot near enough the shore to safely swim back. Had I been much further out, I would have used the phone to call for help, but it would have been a very chilly wait for it to turn up..
The lessons that I supposedly already knew:
1. Always use a SOLID leash
2. Dress for swim.
3. In cold waters stay within safe swimming distance from the shore, if you're alone.
4. Always carry a mobile phone.
5. I will order some flares to carry in the PFD pocket.
I was wearing a drysuit with thin under layer (Mistake no. 2) to avoid excessive sweating, PFD, poggies, neopren cap, and a leash. The leash was attached with a velcro strap to the foot strap of the ski and the other end to my PFD with a carabiner hook. I carried my mobile phone in the front pocket of the PFD along with a whistle.
I paddled out and first turned down-wind for a few hundreds of meter before turning up against the wind staying within some 200-300 m from the shore. I was then knocked off by a cross-wave and didn't have trouble remounting the ski. When I was about the get going, I was knocked off again and this time I couldn't immediate grab hold on the boat. I knew that I had the leash so I calmly took a stroke or two towards the boat only realising that the distance was getting greater. I then saw the snapped leash in the water and knew that there was no way I could catch it up anymore.
There were no boats in sight, nobody on the shore. Fortunately, I was only about 150 m away from the shore, so I decided to swim back pushing the paddle in front of me. It was actually not easy swim in a dry suit and I knew I wasn't properly dressed for any prolonged swim in these temperatures. Instead of couple of minutes of pool swim over similar distance it took me way longer to get back on the land.
After climbing over the wave breaker I noticed a couple of guys sitting on their sailing boat. I signalled that I had lost my boat that was bouncing away more that 500 m further down on the lake. Using the motor they went to bring the ski back (with GPS and the GoPro attached to it). From the GPS data it turned out the the ski had been drifting between 3 and 5 km/h, and the GoPro footage showed the snapped leash already when I fell of the first time.
This happened on a lake in moderate conditions and luckily in a spot near enough the shore to safely swim back. Had I been much further out, I would have used the phone to call for help, but it would have been a very chilly wait for it to turn up..
The lessons that I supposedly already knew:
1. Always use a SOLID leash
2. Dress for swim.
3. In cold waters stay within safe swimming distance from the shore, if you're alone.
4. Always carry a mobile phone.
5. I will order some flares to carry in the PFD pocket.