GOULDSBORO, Maine — One of the two men who died Wednesday when a squall capsized a trio of ocean kayakers off the local village of Corea has been identified as Ed Brackett, the town’s code enforcement officer.
State officials investigating the incident have not identified either man who died or the woman who survived, who is being treated at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor.
But town officials have confirmed that Brackett, who also operates a sea kayaking guide service, was one of the two men who died, and his wife, Cheryl Brackett, has confirmed her husband’s death in an interview with the Portland Press Herald.
Ed Brackett’s family declined multiple requests Thursday from the Bangor Daily News for interviews. A woman who identified herself as Cheryl Brackett’s daughter when she met a reporter on the front lawn of the family’s home in the local village of Birch Harbor and later answered a phone call placed to the residence said the family did not want to be interviewed.
The Bracketts operate Seascape Kayak & Bike in Gouldsboro and in neighboring Winter Harbor, where they just opened a rental location at the new Schoodic Marine Center on Sargent Street.
An employee at the Winter Harbor location said Thursday that the business was open for bicycle rentals but that the kayak guiding part of the business had been suspended until further notice.
Local lobstermen who assisted the Coast Guard and Maine Marine Patrol said Thursday that a sudden squall that blew in Wednesday afternoon is suspected of capsizing their kayaks, which the outgoing tide then pushed miles out to sea.
The party was reported overdue at 6:30 p.m., presumably by Cheryl Brackett, two hours after the kayakers were supposed to return. The woman who survived was pulled semi-conscious from the water by a lobsterman around 8 p.m. The two men were unresponsive when they were located later, one around 8:30 p.m. and another a few minutes before 10 p.m., and were declared deceased after being brought ashore in Prospect Harbor.
Bryan Kaenrath, Gouldsboro’s town manager, said Thursday that Ed Brackett had served as the town’s part-time code enforcement officer since April 2015 and also has held the same position with the nearby towns of Sorrento and Sullivan.
He said Brackett previously had worked for the construction company Cianbro and had lived in central Maine before moving to Gouldsboro. Kaenrath said he was not sure how long the Bracketts have lived in Gouldsboro.
Kaenrath recalled Brackett as a conscientious town employee who often stayed late in his office, directly next to Kaenrath’s at the town’s municipal building in the village of Prospect Harbor.
“He was a very bright guy, very thorough,” the town manager said. “He was a real asset [to Gouldsboro], and we are really sad to see him gone.”
Kaenrath added that Brackett was an experienced kayaker who was aware of the risks of paddling along the exposed coast.
“He knew what he was doing out there,” he said. “It must have been something severe [weatherwise] to have caused this.”
