On January 6, 2023, at approximately 5:00 PM, Maryland Natura Resources Police responded to Anne Arundel Medical Center in reference to two kayakers who went overboard in the Magothy River. Upon arriving at Anne Arundel Medical Center, the two kayakers were fully identified.

We interviewed Operator and Occupant in their respective hospital rooms. Operator and Occupant stated that between approximately 1:30 PM and 2:00 PM, they departed Occupant’s residence aboard Operator’s Pelican kayak (15 ft, two-seater, blue and white in color). They were sitting tandem in the kayak, with Occupant in front and Operator in the rear. The plan was to kayak to Gibson Island and then return to Occupant’s residence. It should be noted that, prior to their departure, both Operator and Occupant, agreed that the water did not appear too rough for a kayak.

According to Operator and Occupant, they had no issues arriving to Gibson Island. However, once arriving to Gibson Island, they noticed the wind was stronger and the water conditions had worsened. Therefore, they decided to start heading back to Occupant’s residence before the conditions worsened.

On their way back to Occupant’s residence from Gibson Island, Operator estimated the chop to be 1-2 feet with white caps forming. Occupant estimated the winds to be approximately 20 mph. As the two continued to paddle back to shore from Gibson Island, water slowly began swamping the kayak due to heavy chop. It was approximated that when they were between 50 and 100 yards from shore, the rear of the kayak became completely swamped with water.

At this time, both Operator and Occupant decided to abandon the kayak and start swimming to shore. The two were able to swim to a nearby pier off of Persimmon Point. Subject noticed the two kayakers struggling. Subject1 ran out of her house to the bulkhead and threw a rope to Occupant who was still in the water. Occupant grabbed the rope and was able to pull herself into shore.

At approximately 3:45 PM, Operator and Occupant were both out of the water. Subject1 brought them into her house so they could get out of their cold, wet clothes, and raise their body temperatures by taking hot showers. By this time, Subject1’s husband had already called 911 and EMS was in route. EMS arrived shortly thereafter, and both Operator and Occupant were transported to Anne Arundel Medical Center to be treated for hypothermia.

Both Operator and Occupant seemed to be mildly hypothermic. Operator explained that upon exiting the water, his body felt very weak, he was light-headed, dizzy, and nauseous. According to Operator, neither him nor Occupant were fully submerged in the water at any point. The water only came up to their necks. At the hospital, both kayakers were in stable condition and were said to be released later that night by medical staff.

Finally, Operator was questioned as to whether him and Occupant were wearing PFDs at the time of the incident. He explained that they were not wearing PFDs, and that they did not have any wearable PFDs onboard the vessel. Operator stated that he and Occupant were each sitting on a Type IV throwable PFD, but they did not have any wearable PFDs onboard. Operator also stated that there were no sound producing devices or navigational equipment onboard the vessel.

Due to the fact that Operator owned the kayak, he was identified as the captain of the vessel at the time of the incident.

Operator was issued the following:
1 NR Citation
MR 08.18.04.02 A: Failure to Carry PFDs Aboard Vessel Not Subject to USCG Inspection
2 PFDs short
1 NR Warning
MR 08.18.01.04 A: Failure to Obey Navigation Rules – Rules of the Road
No sound producing device
Written statements were obtained from Operator, Occupant, and Subject1.

As of this report, the whereabouts of the kayak remain unknown.

This is a reportable boat accident per Maryland Natural Resources Police policy, and I will be attaching a watercraft accident template to my report.

All events occurred in Anne Arundel County, MD.
Magothy River-Main Stem-Bigger
Arnold                        