Hard to come up with those numbers. Looking at the 2008 USCG statistics, the most recent that is on their site ... http://www.kayakforum.com/cgi-bin/Building/index.cgi/page/1/md/form/id/194773

There were 6347 vessels of all types involved in accidents ... 73 were kayaks. Therefore 1.15% of the vessels involved in accidents were kayaks.

There were 709 deaths of which 34 were kayakers. Therefore 4.8% of the deaths were kayakers. Eighty eight percent drowned.

Ken Blanton

: Thanks for posting this. One of the aspects of sea kayaking I find
: really interesting is safety. I don't remember where I got this
: statistic (or even if it is accurate) is "Kayaks 1 percent
: of the boats, 15 percent of the fatalities."