This is part four of a five-part Q&A on Thomas Pruner, a hiker who died while hiking on Santa Cruz Island in California. Kurt Johnson, a friend of Pruner and part of the group on Santa Cruz Island, took some time to answer questions from Hiker Hell.
To read the original story, click here.
HikerHell: What other factors contributed to the day’s events? Unexpected heat? Fitness? Delays?
Kurt: We have been describing the tragedy of that day as a “perfect storm” of events. When we arrived at the Ventura Marina on Thursday morning, Mike, the owner of Channel Islands Kayak Center, informed us that due to the storm that had just passed through, he would not be willing to send the kayaks over to the island with us.
He stated that the conditions would be far too dangerous …
to paddle at all. We were extremely disappointed and even considered calling the trip off at that point.
Instead, with the assurance of Mike that he’d send the kayaks over on a subsequent boat if he received reports that the conditions were adequate, we boarded the Island Packer boat and headed to Santa Cruz Island.
Upon arrival at Santa Cruz Island, the Ranger briefs everyone that disembarks from the boat as to the regulations, health and safety issues. The ranger that day, and throughout our visit, was very informative and helpful the whole time we were on the island. We told her about Mike’s decision not to send the kayaks to the island due to the treacherous sea conditions. The ranger was extremely surprised to hear that, since the conditions were perfect! There was almost no swell, no waves, and very little wind.
The ranger even called Mike and left a voicemail to give her assessment of the conditions. The next morning was beautiful. We walked down to the coastline. The ocean was practically flat and kayaks were already heading out.
We quickly prepared holding our dry bags, headlamps, wetsuits and other paddling gear when one of our guys came walking back from where the Island Packer Boat had just landed…no kayaks!!
At this point we were pissed off. We couldn’t believe Mike wouldn’t even take the word of a sworn peace officer that the ocean and shoreline conditions were safe. We are highly suspicious that Mike had ulterior motives for not preparing and sending the kayaks. He is an ex-professional surfer and we suspect that he couldn’t resist spending the day surfing, rather than sending us the kayaks that we had arranged. This is our speculation … but what I know as fact is that on a day that the conditions were perfect, he did not deliver the yaks that he promised to send if the conditions proved to be acceptable. I guess ankle slapping waves with no swell or wind isn’t acceptable. Thanks Mike, from Channel Islands Kayak Center.
The second part to the perfect storm was the fact that we didn’t know until mid-morning that we would be getting our kayaks. Therefore, plans for hiking as an alternative didn’t begin until well after we would have otherwise hit the trails. After some brief discussion, planning and preparation, our hikes didn’t get started until about 11:00 a.m.
Next, the weather. The late start, coupled with the record heat and lack of wind, made both hikes much more taxing than might be expected. It was quite uncomfortably hot, dry , still and exposed on the island’s trails that day.
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