Lesson learned: Always attach lights when kayaking

I went kayaking this weekend through some mild rapids. It was pretty fun. But things started to go wrong when the water got more violent. After almost flipping while battling the 50 ish degree water, I somehow after going through the first round of rocks managed to lose my Nalgene bottle. Ok I thought those bottles can float so it can't be too hard to find. After much searching, I could not for the life of me spot the blue colored plastic.

Then, I thought and reached in my pocket, well at least I still have my Fenix L1P and SF E2e in my wet soaked pockets. Now if I lost those, this trip would really suck. Finishing through the last line of rushing waters, I finally reached land and drag the scratched fulled kayak to the surface. I feel for the lights in my pocket. Noooooooo, I pull out the SF E2e but it's companion, Fenix L1P fell victim to the cold waters of the river. :sigh:

I lost 2 things in 6 hours. If I had just being smart enough to attach them both with lanyards and to my person, I would be using the Fenix in candlemode while drinking from my Nalgene now.

bummer. but at least it looks like you had fun from kayaking, with your description, i know i would have. well now you HAVE to buy a replacement for the fenix :naughty:

Better the Fenix then the E2e. But still a bummer nonetheless.

where were you kayaking? Ocoee?

Yeah, where were you kayaking? :naughty:

I was going down the Savannah River. There are some rapids near Augusta which are pretty cool. It wasn't anything too serious but boy was the water cold that day. lol

Yeah, I thought the same thing too Nitroz.

Its going to take a couple of weeks of eating straight ramen to save up for another light. Any suggestions for another good 1 AA LED light? Are those L1T's alot better then the L1P's?

Sucks that you lost it, but you can go shopping now with good reason! Buy 2 just for good measure.

I like my L1T but can't compare it to the L1P. I think if I lost it I would replace it with the same. Don't forget to stick the lanyard on this time:naughty:

Get your L1p replacement before you can't anymore... fenixstore is clearing out the last ones now (there is a thread somewhere)

Also have to ask how this happened? My kayak (and most) requre the use of a skirt (rubber seal that goes around your body + connects to the kayak) If something fell out of my pocket it would just annoyingly rattle around inside my boat. I usually keep a light, but I always stick it (and everything I take along with me) in a sealed rubber bag with floats attached to it. - that way if i get in trouble + have to bail from the boat none of my stuff disappears.

Do you have a sit-on-top kayak? I've seen pictures, but I've never seen any 'round here.

teststrips said:

Also have to ask how this happened? My kayak (and most) requre the use of a skirt (rubber seal that goes around your body + connects to the kayak) If something fell out of my pocket it would just annoyingly rattle around inside my boat. I usually keep a light, but I always stick it (and everything I take along with me) in a sealed rubber bag with floats attached to it. - that way if i get in trouble + have to bail from the boat none of my stuff disappears.

Do you have a sit-on-top kayak? I've seen pictures, but I've never seen any 'round here.

Click to expand...

He might have been using a river kayak. They're wider and harder to tip, without the gasket. That's what we use. See the picture below (Not mine). There's usually a waterproof storage in the back, useful for those things you really don't want to lose. Kayaking is great fun and I recommend it to anyone who hasn't tried it!

Hey, Supes -- when you're out doing stuff, things happen. If you'd been home on the Xbox.........

I use a Nalgene bottle that I picked on the Current River in Missouri about 30 years ago. Hopefully, someone will find yours and get good use from it.

Sounds like you had a great trip. Keep on.

BTW - sit-on kayaks are very popular here. But the water temp is a little different.

I dropped a disposable camera in the river once... jumped in to try to grasp it, but to no avail.. Losing the pics was disappointing.

Last year we found an army type folding shovel that we had lost in a river camp many years prior. It was mostly buried, I almost tripped over it.

I always take a spare hat and extra sunglasses, because those are sure to disappear eventually.

One year one of our buddies left his tent poles in camp and fortunately there was another group who found them and was able to catch up to us to deliver them. I took them, but the owner was miles downstream, so I didn't tell him until after he started setting up his tent. I didn't let him worry too long about it, because I didn't want him to be so overcome with grief. Now everytime I pack up my tent I am hyper about packing the poles, too. Even after my bag is packed I go back and look to see if I forgot my poles, and even after pushing off into the river I worry about forgetting them. I hope it never happens.

You're lucky if there is someone downstream to recover your items if your boat dumps and things foat away. Paddles for some reason tend to not float very far. I always am able to recover mine.

The best use I ever made of the bottle I recovered -- going into the Boundary Waters, I carried it filled with Everclear (180proof grain alcohol). A tablespoon of Everclear and some lake water makes a great BW cocktail.

I don't think all kayaks have skirts unless you go and get one. I was going in a whitewater kayak and decided to take the challenge and also because it was the only thing left to use to go down the river. (Friends took the canoe, so no choice really.) I've gone kayaking in a river type kayak with a storage compartment in the back before and didn't have any trouble going down the same rapids. Didn't lose any lights on that trip. (Had a Magcharger and SF M3 right next to my legs.) The M3 was attached via lanyard but not the MC.

The thing was the damn whitewater kayak was hard for me to maneuvr and water was just pouring in while going down in some of the areas. When the water got up to my waist, it was either bail out or sink with the bloody thing. lol As I bailed I guess it got out of my pocket. I got to admit though, watching water slowly flow in and fill the sit area and having the front end of the kayak carefully being submerged all while trying to delicately use my hands to somehow get the water out because any sudden shifts in my body will flip the kayak right in the cold abyss is something I won't forget. :wow:

And oh yea, I forgot to add while kayaking on open water a freakin PLANE that can land on water tries to land right where I'm paddling. It was pretty cool having the thing fly by my less then 10 ft away and 5 ft off the water though. :huh:

I just started getting into kayak and will buy the proper one when I can save up enough money, hopefully my flashlight buying doesn't drain all my money.

Oh can't forget the flashlight related questions , with the L1T having the 3 watt LED shouldn't it be much brighter then the 1 watt L1P?

Ahhh.. Kayaking. A way more expensive hobby than flashlights. You can't have just one.
Attach your light to your PFD with a lanyard short enough that it doesn't wrap around anything and get you stuck in the non-air. Any extra lights go in your drybag.
Can't help ya on the Fenix. I lost my M6 right on the boat ramp when we were packing up. Someone has a nice light now, I hope.

Cheers,
Tod