Hello All;

I woke up to the Sarasota morning newspaper which had a front page story about a Sarasota man who was killed in a kayaking mishap on Christmas Eve. Two 44 year old men, friends for 30 years, died from hypothermia induced drowning when their kayak double capsized in the 50F Choktawhatchee River (up in Florida's panhandle). It turns out that one of the victims lived only a few doors up the street from me, right on my block. I did not know him, and he probably never noticed the kayak taking shape in my garage, a few doors from his house.

According to the story, they were dressed in 4 layers of clothing, inflatable life vests, gloves, and carried 2 cell phones, 2 GPS receivers, a waterproof marine radio and laminated maps. That couldn't save them from the 50 degree water, however. If there is a lesson to be learned here, I guess it would be to dress appropriately for exposure to the cold water - 4 layers of regular clothing won't cut it - That's now been proven.

Spidey