National Center for Cold Water Safety
Rule 1 / Case 4
Always Wear Your PFD (Lifejacket)
Jim Payne’s Desperate Swim in Freezing Water
February 10th, 2012 - Lake Pend Oreille, Idaho
In preparation for a trip down Chile’s Bio Bio River, Jim Payne purchased a new folding kayak. When it arrived, he decided to take it for a brief, 10 minute test in a calm, familiar, protected location close to shore: the local marina on Lake Pend Oreille.
Even though it was mid-Winter in Idaho, Payne wasn’t particularly concerned about getting out on the water without thermal protection. In 15 years of paddling, he had never experienced an accidental capsize. Besides, he reasoned, he wasn’t “going kayaking”, this was going to be nothing more than a little test. In a safety article that he wrote for Sea Kayaker magazine (December 2010), Payne stated: “The idea of my ending up in the water of a sheltered marina was so remote that I had given it absolutely no thought.”
When he arrived at the marina, a sheet of ice extended out from the shoreline, but wooden docks extended even further out and provided him with fairly easy access to the ice-cold water. The docks were about two feet above the water; a little bit tricky, but Payne was able to carefully lower himself into his new boat without difficulty.
It was immediately obvious that his new boat wasn’t quite as stable as the old folding kayak that he was used to, and he rocked it back and forth to get a feel for the difference. Everything seemed OK, so he leaned over a little bit more, as he had done hundreds of times with no problem in his other kayak, but instead of resisting his movement, this new boat promptly capsized, spilling Payne directly into the water.
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The sudden shock of immersion stunned him, but he was able to resist gasping while under water because the combination of his clothing and snug-fitting PFD briefly delayed the freezing water contacting his skin. He tried the quickest and most sensible route to safety – getting back on the dock - but that didn’t work because it was too high and the weight of his soaking-wet clothes made it impossible to pull himself up and out of the water. He screamed repeatedly for help, but no one answered. It was a cold, grey, windy day at the marina, and no one saw him capsize or witnessed him struggling to get back on the dock.
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​Payne felt like he didn’t have much time left, so he began desperately swimming for an ice-free section of seawall that lay 30 yards away. Because of the intense cold and the difficulty he had controlling his breathing, the best he could manage was a slow and very inefficient dog-paddle, which kept his body nearly vertical in the water and reduced his forward speed to about 1 foot every two seconds.
At that pace, it took roughly 3 minutes for him to reach the breakwater. “Panting and convulsing with cold”, he was able to claw his way up the rocks to safety.
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Case Note: (( see the synopis doc and add the info to the narrative and also the lessons learned
see if I can find the SK article I wrote) (
Rule 1 Case 4 Docs
The Synopsis and lessons learnend pdf
Payne - Idaho - Lessons Learned 2.pdf
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For someone whose breathing is out of control, 90 feet is a marathon swimming distance in freezing water. Payne’s upright, dog-paddling stroke is characteristic of swimming failure, and there is no doubt that without the support of his PFD, he would have drowned long before he was able to reach shore.
Experience and familiarity often breed complacency, a state of mind that makes it very easy to rationalize a near-lethal decision to paddle unprotected on freezing water. Nobody ever plans on capsizing.