{"id":37502,"date":"2023-06-29T09:12:36","date_gmt":"2023-06-29T14:12:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.acrartex.com\/?post_type=survivor-stories&p=37502"},"modified":"2025-04-17T10:36:46","modified_gmt":"2025-04-17T15:36:46","slug":"acr-resqlink-solo-paddler-offshore-journey-australia","status":"publish","type":"survivor-stories","link":"https:\/\/www.acrartex.com\/uk\/survivor-stories\/acr-resqlink-solo-paddler-offshore-journey-australia\/","title":{"rendered":"ACR ResQLink Aids Paddler When Her Offshore Journey Took a Turn"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I recently required rescuing only 3 km offshore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I went out solo paddling to an offshore island as a training exercise. Tide was falling and I had no unusual concerns. The island lay 8km offshore, but I only planned to go part of the way and turn around. I had my ACR ResQLink 400<\/a> strapped to my life vest as usual, and my mobile phone, had told a friend what I was doing and off I went.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The whole exercise should have only been 2 hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The wind came up when I was about 3\/4 of the way and I turned around to headed back. The waves dropped off and I was happily heading home singing some songs. The water was a bit messy with smaller waves. Bouncing off the coast in the opposite direction of the small swell. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suddenly, my kayak pitched to the side and out I went. I\u2019ve practiced rolling, but I didn\u2019t respond quickly enough. I swam to the bow, put in some effort to tip the water out, righted my kayak, and climbed onto the deck. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, I hadn’t practiced self-rescue (I realize in hindsight now) and kept toppling back in the water when I tried butting both legs in the cockpit. I wasn’t drifting fast as it was on a neap tide and so wasn’t too concerned. I realized I needed help and felt disappointed in myself. Holding my elbow in the water-filled cockpit when I called emergency services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, it was a nationwide call, and the operator was unfamiliar with the location and was asking what seemed to me irrelevant questions. I tried to explain my circumstances, but she was asking questions like “what’s your nearest street” and “what suburb do you live in”. When she suggested I swim to shore I said, “don’t worry about it” and hung up. I managed to get on my deck once more and rang my friend who knew I was out on the water and asked him to call emergency and get me help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was then that I saw a large fin glide through the water near my bow that I decided I was not going to attempt another re-entry. Enough splashing around! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, in a panic, I quickly flipped the aerial loose and pushed the rescue button on my ACR ResQlink 400. I lay down and waited. There was a bit of confusion with rescue because I’d rung Emergency and also Marine safety had my GPS. My son called me next as he was on my list of contacts and I assured him I was ok and waiting for rescue. I was contacted by the local police and surf lifesaving and they got a surf ski out to locate me. I feel like I was hasty in pressing the button on my PLB when I had mobile reception but I now have the confidence of how well it works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emergency services assured me I did everything right. I had registered my PLB with Marine Safety<\/a>, with my current details including my contacts and my phone number. I called for help before I got exhausted or into trouble. At the end of the day only my pride was hurt. I’m now practicing my self-rescues and assisted rescues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The experience made me realize how quickly things can go pear-shaped. Thankfully we live in a time when help is not far away. Unfortunately, the PLB’s aerial snapped off during the fast ride back\u2014I hadn\u2019t clipped it in properly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was then that I saw a large fin glide through the water near my bow that I decided I was not going to attempt another re-entry. Enough splashing around! Now, in a panic, I quickly flipped the aerial loose and pushed the rescue button on my\u00a0ACR ResQLink 400<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":144453,"featured_media":37501,"template":"","survivor-category":[27],"terrain":[22],"survivor-event":[133,2612],"survivor-cause":[126],"survivor-rescue":[138],"class_list":["post-37502","survivor-stories","type-survivor-stories","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","survivor-category-water-sports","terrain-ocean","survivor-event-rogue-wave","survivor-event-wind","survivor-cause-weather","survivor-rescue-law-enforcement-police"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.acrartex.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/survivor-stories\/37502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.acrartex.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/survivor-stories"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.acrartex.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/survivor-stories"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.acrartex.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/144453"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.acrartex.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.acrartex.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"survivor-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.acrartex.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/survivor-category?post=37502"},{"taxonomy":"terrain","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.acrartex.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/terrain?post=37502"},{"taxonomy":"survivor-event","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.acrartex.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/survivor-event?post=37502"},{"taxonomy":"survivor-cause","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.acrartex.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/survivor-cause?post=37502"},{"taxonomy":"survivor-rescue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.acrartex.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/survivor-rescue?post=37502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}