# Missing Kayaker



## Gotfw (May 10, 2013)

Anyone have info on the Kayaker search in Gulf Shores? I see Coast Guard Helicopters moving around.


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## OP-FOR (Jan 23, 2010)

You have more information than me. Hope everything turns out ok. Really hope it is just an exercise.


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## dockmaster (Sep 27, 2007)

http://www.pnj.com/story/news/2015/01/12/coast-guard-searching-missing-kayaker/21634559/


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## blkwtr (Oct 6, 2007)

A couple of years ago I was approaching the Pensacola Pass and saw a kayak a couple of miles off shore. It was getting dark, the tide was going out and the wind was out of the north. We decided to check on the guy and found him exhausted from trying to get back to shore. We pulled him and his kayak on board and took him to NAS Pensacola. I sometimes wonder what would have happened if we had not stopped to check on him.


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## Johnms (Nov 29, 2010)

*he sent a photo before he disappeared*

This is from WKRG


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## badonskybuccaneers (Aug 19, 2013)

The latest update from WKRG at 5PM, 01-12-15...


> UPDATE:
> -John Switzer has still not been found.
> -Search crews will look for the 24-year old Starkville, Mississippi, man again on Tuesday.
> -The picture Switzer took while out in the Gulf shows Switzer well off-shore. Switzer appears to be navigating through some pretty big waves.
> ...


http://www.wkrg.com/story/27827916/search-for-missing-kayaker-in-gulf-shores?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=11027793f


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## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

This is becoming a far-too common occurrence. Hopefully he is still alive and just waiting it out.


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## 192 (Oct 1, 2007)

Almost 48 hours missing with Gulf temps in the low to mid 50's. Hope they find him.


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## sealark (Sep 27, 2007)

If he went out today the 12th he's foolish. I was out there and going east there were 2 to 4 mixed up swells and seas. Plus an occasional 5 to 6 footer. Water temps on surface was 62 degrees. Hope they find him but in that temps he may last 3 hours if he is in shape.


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## First Cast (Oct 8, 2007)

I wonder if he's related to the Lamar Advertising Switzer family that lives in Pensacola?


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## foxtrotuniform (Nov 11, 2013)

sealark said:


> If he went out today the 12th he's foolish. I was out there and going east there were 2 to 4 mixed up swells and seas. Plus an occasional 5 to 6 footer. Water temps on surface was 62 degrees. Hope they find him but in that temps he may last 3 hours if he is in shape.


Which direction were the predominant winds?

Edit: 
That doesn't look like a ride-on-top kayak in that photo... Do fishing kayak guys put inflatable flotation bags inside their kayak, like whitewater guys do? Even with the bags, if he took a swim that far offshore, he'd have a hell of a time bailing out that yak and climbing back inside by himself. 

Without flotation and in cold water... Sheesh. I just don't see any way that he makes it home in that scenario.


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## Chapman5011 (Mar 7, 2013)

Horrible. It's happen numerous times over the last few year just In Pensacola and orange beach since the sport has taken off over the last few years. There are several a year go missing in those two passes. 
Why he was by himself, I don't know. I don't like to go out in my 23 foot center console by my self. I have fallen over board while sitting on the side of the boat several years ago. That's why I fish with other people. 
You would think the bright yellow kayak would have been found unless it's not floating anymore. 
Cold time of year to even think about getting your hands wet, much less submerging your self from flipping over on a yak. 
I hope for the best outcome here. 



.


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## daniel9829 (Jan 31, 2009)

I am amazed at the number of people that go off shore in a Kayak without life preservers. I have a inflatable that I wear all of the time while I am on the water. I have been Kayaking off shore for about 12 years and have seen to many people die


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## 706Z (Mar 30, 2011)

daniel9829 said:


> I am amazed at the number of people that go off shore in a Kayak without life preservers. I have a inflatable that I wear all of the time while I am on the water. I have been Kayaking off shore for about 12 years and have seen to many people die


This^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


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## speckledcroaker (Mar 23, 2012)

Wirelessly posted

About two years ago seen a guy in a yak at i10 rubble thats roughly 17 miles out. People are not too smart when it comes to yaks.


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## OP-FOR (Jan 23, 2010)

I fished out front when there was a slight north wind in my Kayak. Hung a fish that dragged me south. After I got it in I realized I had been dragged out, but not too far but far enough to feel a little uncomfortable. I now have a sea anchor, portable VHF, inflatable life vest and a "SPOT". I did not make a good decision that day and I will not make it again. 

Once again I hope he is ok.


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## badonskybuccaneers (Aug 19, 2013)

Latest from WKRG at noon, 01/13/14.... The USCG has found a sunk kayak they believe to be John Switzers near Dauphin Island this morning. However, he still has not been found. Gulf Shores is not engaged in the search anymore, but Ft Morgan Search and Rescue and the Dauphin Island PD are looking for the body at this time, as well as the USCG.



> Under improved weather conditions Tuesday, the U.S. Coast Guard has located "a partially submerged yellow kayak." News 5 is told the kayak is believed to be the same one used by the missing Mississippi man John Switzer.
> 
> According to the U.S. Coast Guard, the kayak was located between Dauphin Island and Petit Bois Island.
> 
> More details on this developing story on News 5 at Noon.


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## AndyS (Nov 22, 2011)

daniel9829 said:


> I am amazed at the number of people that go off shore in a Kayak without life preservers. I have a inflatable that I wear all of the time while I am on the water. I have been Kayaking off shore for about 12 years and have seen to many people die



Don't be too certain everyone you see without one on doesn't have one. I often sit on mine when the weather is warmish or hot & the seas are calm. I'll slip it back on coming in before I hit the surf zone unless the water is really flat. Not to brag, but I'm decently practiced & agile at getting back in after a spill & both my yaks are SOT's.

Embarrassing to admit, but I paddled my OK Prowler with just my hands for about a mile once, my paddle having inadvertently come unclipped & went overboard without my noticing while fighting a fish. Good thing for me there wasn't much wind that day. I certainly learned the value of keeping a good leash on the paddle and now also carry a backup collapsible paddle tied on in the back. (_funny thing, not long after losing the paddle a turtle showed up & accompanied me almost all the way in on the surface ... kept looking up at me from the water every once in a while as if trying to figure just what kind of idiot I was) _


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## daniel9829 (Jan 31, 2009)

The ones I am talking about are the ones that do not have a PDF. I have a inflatable and carry a throw that I sit on.


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## welldoya (Oct 5, 2007)

I know a lot of you guys fish in the gulf in your kayaks and I have always thought "those guys are more adventuresome than I am". To me, the Gulf is no place for a kayak, not beyond a few hundred yards anyway.
Hopefully this guy is on a beach somewhere.....alive.


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## daniel9829 (Jan 31, 2009)

I don't get as adventurous at I did when I was 50. Most of the time I stay insight of shore and make sure calm seas. I don't take any chances.


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## AndyS (Nov 22, 2011)

daniel9829 said:


> I don't get as adventurous at I did when I was 50. Most of the time I stay insight of shore and make sure calm seas. I don't take any chances.


Well, thanks for making me feel like a devil-may-care young whippersnapper at the tender age of 54! :shifty:

_(I always stay in sight of shore in a yak)_


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## panhandleslim (Jan 11, 2013)

OP-FOR said:


> I fished out front when there was a slight north wind in my Kayak. Hung a fish that dragged me south. After I got it in I realized I had been dragged out, but not too far but far enough to feel a little uncomfortable. I now have a sea anchor, portable VHF, inflatable life vest and a "SPOT". I did not make a good decision that day and I will not make it again.


Lot's of us have been lucky enough to make mistakes and learned from them without having to pay the ultimate price. These types of 'Lessons Learned' are invaluable, hard earned knowledge that beginners and even experienced boaters can take advantage of and learn from. 

Got to applaud your 'adjustments' once you learned your lesson. I don't leave the beach, even in a bayou, without having a inflatable PFD on my body with an EPIRB and a high quality strobe attached. It's amazing how a $25., safety addition can save your life. I've met a person, in New Guinea , saved by a strobe. She got swept away in Komodo, a place where the strobe or that and a VHF might have been the only thing that could have saved her. In her case, the Strobe did it in an area where there is hardly ever another boat seen for days.


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## Johnms (Nov 29, 2010)

Latest update If he is in the water he might wash up on these two islands.


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## Gotfw (May 10, 2013)

It was reported earlier that he said he was not wearing a Life Jacket. No comment about if he had one.


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## BrakeTurnAccelerate (Jul 1, 2012)

I hate to be a smart-ass, but couldn't news find a better picture than pulling one from a mugshot?


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## Johnms (Nov 29, 2010)

*Photo*



BrakeTurnAccelerate said:


> I hate to be a smart-ass, but couldn't news find a better picture than pulling one from a mugshot?


I saw where it was his Driver's License photo.


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## Dan&lindsay2 (Jan 13, 2015)

last i heard they found his kayak but no sign of him yet. that was what channel 3 reported this afternoon


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## nathar (Jun 25, 2009)

Miracles can happen. This morning I heard about a former Miami Dolphins player who swam 27 miles to shore after falling out of his boat.


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## Capt. Mako (Aug 21, 2014)

nathar said:


> Miracles can happen. This morning I heard about a former Miami Dolphins player who swam 27 miles to shore after falling out of his boat.


 Was 9 miles, but still one excellent survival. Well done. What do you expect from a Dolphin. :whistling:


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## badonskybuccaneers (Aug 19, 2013)

Latest from WKRG, 18.00.00, 01/13/14



> 6PM UPDATE:
> 
> Both the Dauphin Island Police Dept. and volunteers with the Fort Morgan Fire Dept. assisted in the search for Switzer this afternoon.
> 
> ...


u

UPDATE: 20.00.00, 01/13/14



> The U.S. Coast Guard has called off its search for missing kayaker John Switzer, after he disappeared in the waters off Gulf Shores on Saturday.
> 
> Response crews covered more than 2,115 square miles in their search over the last several days, covering land and water with boats and helicopters.
> 
> ...


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## sealark (Sep 27, 2007)

Just saw a notice where the Coast Guard called off the search. Anyone that goes offshore in a Kayak in the winter WITHOUT A FULL WETSUIT is asking for trouble. 60 degree water will kill you even in a lifejacket. And that north winds can be a fooler after it shifts to north from south, Calm on shore and a very conflicting close together seas with the swells coming from south with north winds.


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## nathar (Jun 25, 2009)

Capt. Mako said:


> Was 9 miles, but still one excellent survival. Well done. What do you expect from a Dolphin. :whistling:


Could have sworn Fox & Friends news segment reported 27 miles, but either way, pretty damned impressive. I never want to have to use the drown-proofing techniques or survival strokes I learned in flight training. I won't be going out in a boat, alone, at night, or going offshore in a kayak.


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## badonskybuccaneers (Aug 19, 2013)

nathar said:


> Could have sworn Fox & Friends news segment reported 27 miles, but either way, pretty damned impressive. I never want to have to use the drown-proofing techniques or survival strokes I learned in flight training. I won't be going out in a boat, alone, at night, or going offshore in a kayak.


Wonder what became of the boat?

I know we don't like to wear them when we are out on our boats, but there is a reason for that safety lanyard... Especially if you are alone!


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## welldoya (Oct 5, 2007)

badonskybuccaneers said:


> Wonder what became of the boat?


I heard on the news that it was 9 miles and he swam for 16 hours. He had to swim west to make land and the last he saw of his boat, it was headed east. Probably out in the Atlantic somewhere out of gas.
I once read about a 13' Boston Whaler that somebody found off of Bermuda. They traced the registration and found that it had been a tender on a yacht out of Miami. It had been lost overboard 2 or 3 years earlier in a storm. They got it back to the owner and he was having it restored.


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## Emerald Ghost (Mar 11, 2008)

We, (PFF) need to develop a means of advising everyone who comes on this website to be aware of the hazards and tell them how many kayakers have drowned /lost while in this area.
I believe that this makes 3 in the last year or so ?


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## superdave (Jul 3, 2009)

welldoya said:


> I heard on the news that it was 9 miles and he swam for 16 hours. He had to swim west to make land and the last he saw of his boat, it was headed east. Probably out in the Atlantic somewhere out of gas.
> I once read about a 13' Boston Whaler that somebody found off of Bermuda. They traced the registration and found that it had been a tender on a yacht out of Miami. It had been lost overboard 2 or 3 years earlier in a storm. They got it back to the owner and he was having it restored.


Both of you guys are kinda right. He was 9 miles off shore, but swam 27 miles because he didn't swim directly into shore. He must've gotten a bit disoriented and swam in a bit of an arch that ended taking him well north of the town he launched from. Must've had some serious current or wind to push him along to do 27 miles in 16 hrs. Maybe the Gulf Stream? That would possible explain the northward arch.


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## superdave (Jul 3, 2009)

First Cast said:


> I wonder if he's related to the Lamar Advertising Switzer family that lives in Pensacola?


No relation. At least not immediately


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## panhandleslim (Jan 11, 2013)

Understand that the kayak was found between Daulphin Island and Petit Bois Island.


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## daniel9829 (Jan 31, 2009)

One is to many but your are right. Maybe a sticky in the kayak section.


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## nathar (Jun 25, 2009)

superdave said:


> Both of you guys are kinda right. He was 9 miles off shore, but swam 27 miles because he didn't swim directly into shore. He must've gotten a bit disoriented and swam in a bit of an arch that ended taking him well north of the town he launched from. Must've had some serious current or wind to push him along to do 27 miles in 16 hrs. Maybe the Gulf Stream? That would possible explain the northward arch.


Ah, that's where I got the number 27. Twenty seven miles, not hours.


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## nathar (Jun 25, 2009)

badonskybuccaneers said:


> Wonder what became of the boat?
> 
> I know we don't like to wear them when we are out on our boats, but there is a reason for that safety lanyard... Especially if you are alone!


IIRC, they said the boat wound up in the Bahamas.


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## JD7.62 (Feb 13, 2008)

Emerald Ghost said:


> We, (PFF) need to develop a means of advising everyone who comes on this website to be aware of the hazards and tell them how many kayakers have drowned /lost while in this area.
> I believe that this makes 3 in the last year or so ?


Yes , but three that died were in sit in kayaks, not sit on top which is what kayak fishermen use.


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## John B. (Oct 2, 2007)

I'm trying to figure out why you would go in a kayak without having a buddy with you... buddy system could have saved this guy. Sad deal.

Sent from my Galaxy S5....


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## Burnt Drag (Jun 3, 2008)

I'm putting myself in his shoes and wondering when the horror hit him that he wasn't going to make it.


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## John B. (Oct 2, 2007)

Burnt Drag said:


> I'm putting myself in his shoes and wondering when the horror hit him that he wasn't going to make it.


Probably about an hour after flipping the yak... that water is cold. Really cold. I'd say there's a good chance he had passed within 4-5 hours after he ditched the yak (assuming assuming all he did was flip.)

Sent from my Galaxy S5....


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## sealark (Sep 27, 2007)

Burnt Drag said:


> I'm putting myself in his shoes and wondering when the horror hit him that he wasn't going to make it.


About 5 minutes after he hit the water and saw the kayak drifting away from him faster then he could swim after it. Then in that 62 degree water his extremities stopped working within about a couple hours.


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## daniel9829 (Jan 31, 2009)

Sad, May God be with his family. 
Any news on if the body has been recovered?


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## Yakavelli (Mar 17, 2010)

John B. said:


> I'm trying to figure out why you would go in a kayak without having a buddy with you... buddy system could have saved this guy. Sad deal.
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my Galaxy S5....


You can't always find a buddy to go. Beauty of a kayak is that you don't need anybody else. I agree with you if we're talking about going more than a half mile offshore. I gotta say though...if I relied on the buddy system to go fishing, I'd never get to go. If I die on my kayak, you can be happy for me that I went out like Earnhardt...doing what I love and how I loved doing it.

*Sent from my SCH-I545 using Forum Fiend v1.3.*


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## aroundthehorn (Aug 29, 2010)

badonskybuccaneers said:


> Wonder what became of the boat?
> 
> I know we don't like to wear them when we are out on our boats, but there is a reason for that safety lanyard... Especially if you are alone!


Boat was found in the Bahamas.


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## daniel9829 (Jan 31, 2009)

99% of the time I fish alone. That is not the real problem. People who don't observe simple safety measures is the real problem. $hit happens.


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## baldona523 (Mar 2, 2008)

Is it confirmed that it was a sit inside kayak? Can't tell from that pic. 

I'll take my hobie sit on top kayak 1-2 miles offshore out by myself well before I'd take a boat under 20ft. With a little foam flotation a hobie or other peddled kayak along with a back-up paddle is about as safe as anything. There are safe ways to kayak and boat, and there are unsafe ways. A simple radio or waterproof phone, and sit on kayak and all 3 lost kayakers would be alive.


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## Burnt Drag (Jun 3, 2008)

I'm betting the seas carried him out of cell range before he attemped to call for help, or either the phone got wet and died.


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## foxtrotuniform (Nov 11, 2013)

baldona523 said:


> Is it confirmed that it was a sit inside kayak? Can't tell from that pic.
> 
> I'll take my hobie sit on top kayak 1-2 miles offshore out by myself well before I'd take a boat under 20ft. With a little foam flotation a hobie or other peddled kayak along with a back-up paddle is about as safe as anything. There are safe ways to kayak and boat, and there are unsafe ways. A simple radio or waterproof phone, and sit on kayak and all 3 lost kayakers would be alive.


To me, the pedal drive makes it an entirely different animal, and a much more capable machine. There's just no comparison when you're paddling against the current/wind.


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## FLSalomon (Oct 3, 2007)

Very sad to hear. That would be a tough way to go.

Any one of several precautions would have saved him. Wearing a PFD. Carrying a VHF radio. Filing a float plan - just tell someone where you are going and when you will be back. Tethering yourself to the yak. Going with someone else. Using a sit-in is not a good idea in the gulf...


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## whalerjon (May 7, 2010)

One more time, PLB. For less than $250, this never has to happen again.


http://www.acrartex.com/products/catalog/personal-locator-beacons/resqlink-plb/#sthash.DBJ9RtLu.dpbs


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## panhandleslim (Jan 11, 2013)

I've got to agree that a sit on top kayak is the way to go for Gulf fishing. 

That said, the Indians (eskimos) in Alaska go out hunting using only sit inside kayaks, in very cold water, before the ice comes in and they don't have problems because they have the proper skirts on the kayak and they know how to turn the boat if it flips. You don't see guys going through the worst rapids on earth in sit on top kayaks. Whole point here is proper preparation and proper equipment regardless of the type of boat.


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## foxtrotuniform (Nov 11, 2013)

panhandleslim said:


> I've got to agree that a sit on top kayak is the way to go for Gulf fishing.
> 
> That said, the Indians (eskimos) in Alaska go out hunting using only sit inside kayaks, in very cold water, before the ice comes in and they don't have problems because they have the proper skirts on the kayak and they know how to turn the boat if it flips. You don't see guys going through the worst rapids on earth in sit on top kayaks. Whole point here is proper preparation and proper equipment regardless of the type of boat.


I've done a LOT of white water kayaking. It always gives me the willies to see flatwater guys kayaking without a skirt. I'm pretty sure they don't have flotation bags in their yaks either. And probably no pump or even a cup to bail it out. 

Don't they realize how tenuous that situation is? Watching them head through the pass like that gives me the same feeling in the pit of my stomach that I get when I see kids playing too close to the top of a cliff. 

One wave/one stumble... Same outcome.


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## daniel9829 (Jan 31, 2009)

I have had people tell me that use sit-ins that it was used for WW but they thought they did not need a skirt. I told them those waves can be worse than a 4-5 rapid


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