One man dead after kayak flips in Deep Cove: Mounties

A 70-year-old man has died after a kayak overturned in Deep Cove Saturday, the North Vancouver RCMP tells CityNews.

Two people — a father and a son — were in the kayak when it flipped.

“It was a double kayak,” Staff Sgt. Doug Trousdell said.

“It was the older gentleman, the father, who’s a 70-year-old male, that died.”

Trousdell says the son was rescued.

The BC Coroners’ Service is now in charge of the file, Trousdell says.

Kayakers provide safety advice after 70-year-old dies in kayak incident

Mac Duncan is a seasoned kayaker, and he says he’s in many situations where his kayak has flipped over — and he says its not easy to get out of.

“The technique that you might see people do is use the paddle to flip yourself,” he said. “That’s difficult to do, and you need to practice it before you can properly do it. But usually you can just fall out and reach over the boat and pull it back over. But if you are in… a closed-in top kayak it can fill with water then you cant flip it back over:”

Sharron Kurran is a trauma nurse, and she says she practices caution every time she goes in the water. She says if she ever capsized in her kayak, she’s got a plan

“The biggest thing is to stay calm,” she said. “The more stressed you are, the more oxygen you are using up and your heart is working harder, and if you are in a situation where you cant breathe properly, then you will run out of air a lot faster.”

She says it is important that everyone learns how to conduct CPR, because compression can mean the difference between life and death.

“Get them to solid ground, dry them off as quickly as possible so they can use an AED, call for help, and record how many compressions you give them,” she said.

Duncan says with all water sports, there are always risk, but with proper planning, accidents can be mitigated as well as possible.

“Obviously as you get older, you may not have the same strength, but I have seen lots of kayakers that are older,” he said. And it’s a great sport, it’s low-impact, and it’s a sport everyone can do.”

With files from Angela Bower.