LAMOINE, Maine — The summer of 2011 was a deadly one for kayakers in Hancock County, where three people died while paddling in coastal bays or ponds.
A year later, their deaths have not been forgotten. Two local residents, one of them the owner of a kayak rental business, are producing information cards that will be handed out to visitors to Lamoine State Park who arrive with kayaks or canoes in tow.
The purpose of the cards, Diane Sanderson said Sunday, is to raise awareness about safety precautions paddlers should take when they venture out on the water, especially on the ocean.
She said the cards are forthright about the risks of kayaking, and even warns that people have died while paddling on the ocean.
“Wear your life jacket, No. 1,” Sanderson said, describing the information on the cards. It also cautions paddlers to take only ocean-worthy vessels out on the water and has a map of water bodies near the park. Lamoine State Park overlooks Eastern Bay, which is connected to Frenchman Bay, and has views of Mount Desert Island.
Sanderson has a personal connection to one of the fatal incidents from last summer. She was sailing out on Eastern Bay with her family when Steven Brooks of Stratham, N.H., capsized in the bay and died on July 10, 2011.
Brooks and a woman were paddling separate kayaks back to the state park from Hadley Point, across the bay on MDI, when his boat flipped. Sanderson’s group heard the woman’s screams for help, sailed to them and pulled Brooks into the boat, but he was unresponsive and could not be revived.
Brooks was not wearing a personal flotation device during the incident, but he may have suffered a medical condition that contributed to his kayak rolling over, officials said at the time.
Sanderson said she was trying to get “a few hundred” of the waterproof cards, each four inches wide and 11 inches long, printed up, hopefully in the next week or so. She said Lamoine State Park officials already have agreed to hand out the cards to visitors, once the cards are available.
Aside from Brooks’ death, two other people died in 2011 while paddling in Hancock County. Eric Hogan, 28, of Webster, Mass., who was on his honeymoon when he died, drowned June 19, 2011, while paddling a sit-on-top-style kayak in Frenchman Bay. A tourist from Korea died Aug. 9, 2011, during a kayak outing on Beech Hill Pond in Otis.
Shaun Donovan, owner of Acadia One Watersports in Lamoine, rents kayaks to people in the MDI area. He said Sunday he understands Sanderson’s motivation in trying to help educate the public, given her experience trying to rescue Brooks. He said he himself pulled a deceased person out of the water last September, when he found a Florida woman who apparently drowned after driving her car into the ocean at Lamoine Beach.
Donovan said he is helping produce the information cards to help spread the word about water safety but also to educate tourists about local waters and harbors. He has helped develop a kayak route around Frenchman Bay, he said, and wants paddlers to know where they can find public restrooms, where licensed diggers harvest clams and other shellfish and to learn about fishing and wildlife in the area.
Donovan said he stressed safety precautions to his customers, even though there will always be people who will not heed sound advice.
“I eat, breathe and preach safety,” Donovan said. “Life jackets make things a lot better for everybody.”
A state legislator from Hancock introduced a bill last year that, if passed into law, would require paddlers to wear life jackets when out on the water. Currently, state law requires boaters to have life jackets with them out on the water, but they don’t have to actually wear them.
State Rep. Richard Malaby’s bill was not accepted for consideration during the emergency session earlier this year, but he has said he hopes to resubmit the bill for the Legislature’s next regular session in 2013.
Follow BDN reporter Bill Trotter on Twitter at @billltrotter.
Good job Diane, you set an example everyone who rents kayaks, mans parks and water areas, and even the state should take part in. I have to wonder why you are the first !
We need more people like Diane Sanderson who care enough to try to make a difference even if it means taking one small step at a time. If only one life is saved because of the efforts of Ms. Sanderson, it will all have been worthwhile.
I do agree with legislation requiring life jackets to be worn by kayakers and social boaters. But, I also think there should be some kind of distinction made for professional fishermen and others who make a living on boats in the ocean. Not because I think they are less likely to drown but because the life jacket could possibly pose a different kind of safety hazard in their line of work that would inhibit their ability to move about on the vessel unencumbered. I’m not sure of any specifics but I do think this should be open for discussion if any legislation is to be considered.
Yay just what we need more people telling others what they should be doing! Nest thing you know it will be law and IFW will be handing out tickets.
I pledge to advocate for a special exemption just to allow you to leave your life jacket at home.
I have no life jackets. Then again I am not going out on a boat either. That said if your a ADULT and you do not want to have a life jacket that should be YOUR choice. At what point will you people say enough get out of my life???
Great work Diane, information is key. Let’s continue with safety handouts.
However we don’t need another do-good/big brother law saying we have to wear life jackets in canoes, kayaks and small boats. We have enough lame laws on the books as it is. Lets take some personal responsibility here folks.
Bravo, Diane! Is there a way to donate to help defray the costs?
Thanks to all who responded here. And thanks to ADBurt for offer to assist with cost. We’ve got it covered this time around but I appreciate your offer.