Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Two Kennedys missing in canoe mishap

Have not been following this.....Recovery still going on? Bodies recovered yet?

I've seen this very thing occur more than once. It didn't involve famous people but was no less tragic. The son trusted his mom. I can imagine the terror she felt when she realized the danger she'd allowed them to get into. Regardless of their name or how bad the decision might have been, it's heartbreaking. That or you're just a dick!

fishing offshore a lot if you are not careful, chit can go south real quick.

Yep, and few realize just how quick unless they have had it happen. It can be scary fast.

My father was a WSI and canoe enthusiast. When I was young we capsized numerous canoes in warm water, controlled situations to learn how to deal. A canoe can capsize in a heartbeat; especially your typical “recreational lake” canoe which will have good initial stability and very poor final stability.
The Chesapeake in April with the wind blowing 30 ... damn.

So what’s the best thing to do once in that situation?

I figure both sit on the bottom of the canoe as close to the middle as possible.

I'd keep it pointed into the waves as much as possible, stay low, and try to surf in, little by little, assuming it was too rough to angle in toward shore. Also, get the bow down by moving forward. Trying to paddle against the wind with the bow up won't work very well. It will swing you around, getting sideways in a breaker.

2 things not to do:

start a stupid thread about going out in a canoe for a ball

get in a canoe and go out in the water to get the ball

best thing to do is buy a new ball. being they were Kennedy's they didn't have the smarts to realize that.

The Kennedy's and water just don't mix

Most people sit on the thwarts instead of on the bottom like you should.

Don't try and turn around.

Pointed into the wind and paddle backwards.

Soon as you're sideways, it's going over.

Tough situation, with no real answer.

They were probably taking water over the gunwhale pretty quickly. The canoe would have filled with water and a wave likely capsized them. In the cold water, without PFD's, fighting a strong current and wind, it wouldn't take long for hypothermia to do what it does.

Its called hop out of the canoe quickly and wade/walk/swim back while your close enough to shore. Its a ball, unless Pelè kicked the ball it wasnt that far. It was the water temp that did them in, guaranteed, once they allowed their panic to overtake while the wind sucked them out. The air temps been decent but the bays still in the 50’s.

Yeah, that's what I meant by move forward...still takes a bunch of muscle and endurance. I doubt she had enough of either. Been there, done that. After a downed duck in the wind.

Exactly. The instinct to try and turn around is hard to overcome, especially under stress.

I haven't followed this story to much, I just figured they pissed off the Clinton's.

Sucks a child died.

It has been reported that the gene responsible for alcoholism has been found in Massachusetts, it is Teddy Kennedy’s old bar tender, Gene.

Tough call. My conjecture would be mom was in the stern, strong offshore wind caught them and she couldn’t get the bow into the wind. In that situation she would need to turn herself 180 and paddle for all she was worth (stern first, into the wind, towards shore).

Another (poor) option would be to abandon the canoe and try to make it back to the beech. This would need to be executed quickly and without hesitation - tough to do with an 8 year old. Water temps were in the mid 40s, so this would need to be done very near shore.

One additional option would be to try to create a water anchor using anything available to keep the bow (or stern) into the wind and hope help comes quickly. A rope with a bailing bucket, etc. Problem being as they drifted further from shore the wave height would rapidly increase and quickly swamp your typical canoe - going to be steep faces and a very short period.

You would think that the Kennedy clan would stay away from water after realizing that Oldsmobiles and airplanes don't float very well.

Looks like most of these were covered while I was pecking on my phone ...