GOULDSBORO, Maine — State officials have concluded their investigation of an incident last week that caused the deaths of two kayakers and the temporary hospitalization of a third.
Marine patrol found nothing in its investigation that suggests anything but the unexpectedly rough weather on June 22 is to blame for the deaths of kayak guide Ed Brackett, 63, and his client Michael Popper, 54, Maine Department of Marine Resources spokesman Jeff Nichols said Wednesday.
Mark Belserene, spokesman for the state medical examiner’s office, said last week that the deaths of Brackett and Michael Popper each have been ruled an accidental drowning.
Brackett, Gouldsboro’s part-time code enforcement officer, also worked as a professional kayaking guide and bicycle rental outfitter. At about noon June 22, he led Plainfield, New Jersey, residents Jennifer and Michael Popper on a paddling tour from Corea of Gouldsboro Bay.
The weather that afternoon was placid except for an unexpected squall that blew through the area in mid-afternoon.
Brackett’s wife, Cheryl Brackett, contacted authorities and local fishermen around 6:30 p.m., after the weather had become pleasant again, but the trio had not returned to shore.
According to Cheryl Brackett and Bangor resident Chris Popper, Michael Popper’s cousin, Jennifer Popper later told officials that all three kayaks capsized in waves that were 3 to 5 feet high.
Lobstermen from Corea went out to search that evening and found the three kayakers a couple of miles offshore. Ed Brackett and Michael Popper were unresponsive, but Jennifer Popper was conscious and clinging to her overturned kayak. She was taken to shore and then taken to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, where she was treated over the next three days before being released.
Officials estimated the kayaks had capsized about five hours before Jennifer Popper was rescued. No one with the department’s marine patrol division can recall anyone ever surviving for that long in Maine’s chilly coastal waters, Nichols said last week.
Department of Marine Resources officials said all three people were wearing life jackets, T-shirts and shorts and are believed to have started suffering from hypothermia within a few minutes.
The water temperature at the time is believed to have been in the low 50s.
A memorial service for Brackett is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Saturday, July 2, at Hammond Hall in Winter Harbor, according to his obituary.
According to Michael Popper’s obituary, a funeral Mass for him was held on Wednesday in Plainfield, New Jersey.
