Lost and found kayakers in Casco Bay

[djlewis]

http://bit.ly/butD21 -- found, but unresponsive, So sounds like the ending still may not be good.

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Coast Guard: 2 kayakers pulled from sea off Maine

May 17, 2010 10:53 EDT

SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine (AP) -- The Coast Guard says two kayakers who went missing overnight have been pulled unresponsive from waters three miles off the Maine coast.

Petty Officer Lauren Jorgensen says 18-year-old Irena McEntee and 20-year-old Carissa Ireland were unresponsive when they were found Monday morning and were taken to Maine Medical Center in Portland. Further details weren't available.

The women's 12-foot-long kayaks were found late Sunday after the women attempted to paddle from Peaks Island to Ram Island, a distance of about a mile. The water temperature is between 46 and 48 degrees.

Tom Hawley from the National Weather Service says there was a small craft advisory in effect at the time. He says there were sustained winds of 22 mph.

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Thomas Bohan, another longtime resident of Peaks Island, said he spoke with a person who works with Tom Bergh, a sea kayak guide, who operates Maine Island Kayak Co. on Peaks Island.

That person told Bohan the women were heading toward Jewell Island with a larger group of kayakers for an overnight camping expedition led by Maine Island Kayak. The Coast Guard was unable to confirm that the women were part of that guided camping trip, and Bergh could not be reached Sunday night.

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This from Tom via Facebook...

The two kayakers from Peaks Island were found this morning and were air lifted to Maine Med. Tom was camping with his overnight group on Jewel as the Coast Guard searched. Tom's group is safe and sound and returning to Peaks today.

[bob budd]

This may be a good time to remind many that a hypothermic person should be treated with a specific protocol and that common mistakes such as bringing them inside are not made.

[rick stoehrer]

This may be a good time to remind many that a hypothermic person should be treated with a specific protocol and that common mistakes such as bringing them inside are not made.

they were found unresponsive and declared dead at mmc. that's a shame. preventable.

also, these 2 girls were NOT on a mikco trip, rental...anything - there is/was no kayaking association, it was just poor reporting on the part of pph. i'd think they'll be printing a retraction tomorrow.

[Kevin B (RPS Coach)]

it's pretty amazing that these 2 girls were found alive.

also, these 2 girls were NOT on a mikco trip, rental...anything - there is/was no kayaking association, it was just poor reporting on the part of pph. i'd think they'll be printing a retraction tomorrow.

http://www.necn.com/05/17/10/Missing-kayak...amp;feedID=4215

[brambor]

This is very sad.

We were out camping not far from Jewell island and I can confirm that the winds were very strong from about 10AM until late afternoon.

The winds came from North or North West which means that anyone had a very hard time reaching the mainland.

This is only a speculation on my part but I think it was probably easier to reach Ram Island than returning back to Peaks Island.

QUOTE (Kevin B @ May 17 2010, 12:11 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

http://www.necn.com/05/17/10/Missing-kayak...amp;feedID=4215

[Tom Bergh]

Paddler and Friends, Monday, May 17, 2010

This morning we awoke to the sad story of lost kayakers off of Peaks. Irena McEntee was a fierce, sweet, strong young lady, and am sure her friend must have been the same. Its hard to get my head around this loss as I knew her personally, and loved to see those flashing bright eyes.

Meanwhile I began receiving phone calls while out on Jewell studying in the punch bowl tide pool - about these girls supposedly being on my trip with St Joseph’s college. As most of you know, MIKCo doesn’t rent kayaks, we take out paddlers only with our guides and instructors. In fact yesterday we moved our group out to Jewell by power boat because of the wind and the group’s abilities. So some uninformed reporter gets ahold of a story, and without calling ANY OF US to verify, published last night his form of journalism concerning these girls paddling with my college group to Jewell – which was patently untrue.

So this morning we had our St Joseph’s college paddlers call their parents, several of whom were extremely agitated because of the Portland Press Heralds form of journalism. Our students our fine, their parents are now relieved, meanwhile the McAntee’s move into their horrible loss.

We choose to participate in a risky sport, yes. But its too bad that professional journalists don’t verify facts before harming others unrelated to this tragedy. Facts are often hard enough.

Tom Bergh

Maine Island Kayak Co

Peaks Island, ME 04108

207.766.2373

www.maineislandkayak.com

[Pintail]

Tough one, Tom: I am sorry there was <any> supposed connection with MIKCo at all (stupid, bloody poor journalism). And sad for you and June, too...

(This is Christopher)

[djlewis]

Detailed Post-Herald report -- http://bit.ly/aO0oFH

But no retraction of the mistaken connection to MIKCo... yet.

Knowing the extraordinary quality of Tom's guiding, I was pretty sure the report was wrong on that point. But there it was.

--David.

[scamlin]

Detailed Post-Herald report -- http://bit.ly/aO0oFH

But no retraction of the mistaken connection to MIKCo... yet.

Knowing the extraordinary quality of Tom's guiding, I was pretty sure the report was wrong on that point. But there it was.

--David.

The PPH article online now has a "correction"

"Correction: This deletes reference to the girls being on a guided kayak trip. They were kayaking on their own."

No apology for the second-hand (actually third-hand) rumor in the original article or the irresponsible and unverified reference to Tom.

Scott

[PeterB]

The PPH article online now has a "correction"

"Correction: This deletes reference to the girls being on a guided kayak trip. They were kayaking on their own."

No apology for the second-hand (actually third-hand) rumor in the original article or the irresponsible and unverified reference to Tom.

Scott

Virtually every time I have read a story about which I happen to have first hand knowledge, the reporting has been wrong, either in significant parts or on the whole. Journalistic inaccuracy is, unfortunately, quite common, an unsettling thought. In this case , its a shame that a blameless party and part of our kayak community has been drawn into the fray.

[jdkilroy]

I suggest you let Mr Hoey know what you think of his reporting/journalism skills and CC all to the editor.

Jon

[rick stoehrer]

the shame of it is in the death of 2 young women and the grief their parents are going through...the shame too is in our friends on that little island going through the same over a young woman they saw grow up. that's very, very sad.

the shame of it is that the paper made the conscious decision to print the story without so much as a single accurate source, let alone verifying the information. but that's the world we live in, isn't it? papers are on-line, maybe the folks posting are j school trained reporters, maybe they're stringers or maybe their bloggers....accurate isn't hardly so important as fast...facebook, twitter....when's the direct download into the reuters d-base? they are all competing, they're all trying to get your attention...to sell you something. you do have to wonder what the hell the editor was thinking.

the shame of it too is in the editor/paper terrorizing the parents of the kids that were safe and sound with mikco/tom...they woke up and saw or read or heard those news reports and it must have been terrifying. that mikco/tom were initially mentioned might have been believed by anyone that read the story and didn't know him - just like those parents of the kids on his trip.

anyone that does know him read the story and dismissed that part immediately - so that mikco was mentioned and the bearing that has on them isn't even remotely so important as their being mentioned and how that must have terrified a lot of unknowing parents.

[jason]

the shame of it is in the death of 2 young women and the grief their parents are going through...the shame too is in our friends on that little island going through the same over a young woman they saw grow up. that's very, very sad.

the shame of it is that the paper made the conscious decision to print the story without so much as a single accurate source, let alone verifying the information. but that's the world we live in, isn't it? papers are on-line, maybe the folks posting are j school trained reporters, maybe they're stringers or maybe their bloggers....accurate isn't hardly so important as fast...facebook, twitter....when's the direct download into the reuters d-base? they are all competing, they're all trying to get your attention...to sell you something. you do have to wonder what the hell the editor was thinking.

the shame of it too is in the editor/paper terrorizing the parents of the kids that were safe and sound with mikco/tom...they woke up and saw or read or heard those news reports and it must have been terrifying. that mikco/tom were initially mentioned might have been believed by anyone that read the story and didn't know him - just like those parents of the kids on his trip.

anyone that does know him read the story and dismissed that part immediately - so that mikco was mentioned and the bearing that has on them isn't even remotely so important as their being mentioned and how that must have terrified a lot of unknowing parents.

I was very surprised when it mentioned MICO then when it mentioned 12' kayaks I knew that someone had the facts wrong.

-Jason

[rick stoehrer]

boats, shmoats...monkeys will fly outta your a$$ before tom doesn't know where his group is on the water. period.

an incompetent guide may lose track of someone in the group.

a competent guide will not lose track of someone in the group.

tom losing track of anyone on the water = flying butt monkeys.

the problem arises from folks reading the story as reported, not knowing him and then getting scared witless.

[Gcosloy]

The journalistic snafu is unfortunate and while Rick expressed very well the true ramifications of this error on Tom and the parents and friends of people he is guiding it seems that there is a larger and more unfortunate story here to be concerned with. Year after year a handful of kayakers are lost in otherwise preventable situations. It seems to me that only education will make a difference here. If the State or the Coast Guard, or even the outfitters don't do it maybe clubs like NSPN should take up the challenge. Every town has a local paper. Think of writing a guest column on kayak safety. After all its probably your friends and neighbors and their kids who will be out this spring and summer in their rec boats without a clue about their own vulnerability in wind and water. Just a thought out of sadness and frustration with conventional wisdom or the lack thereof.

[bob budd]

Far and away the biggest tragedy here is the death of two young women, not what (mis)information was reported. It is indeed to Tom's credit that he quickly acted to assuage the suffering of the other parents who were fearing the worst for their kids, as is the respect so many hold for him. I can also say I am happy we convinced a paddler to stay on shore Saturday afternoon when we departed for a night on the harbour. I just wish I had remembered my pillow.