The Maine Marine Patrol recovered the body of a sea kayaker on Tuesday after his family reported seeing his boat capsize.
[RELATED: Marine Patrol Search of the Kennebec River for Missing Man Results in the Discovery of a Body…]
The Maine Marine Patrol began searching for Jeffery B. Eaton, 55, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, at approximately 10:30 a.m. when family members reported him missing.
They reported seeing his kayak overturn shortly after he launched near the end of Little Deer Isle’s Wiegand Place.
The Maine State Police and Maine Marine Patrol Underwater Recovery Team initiated the search, using the Maine Marine Patrol aircraft. The U.S. Coast Guard also responded to assist in the search.
At approximately 1:45 p.m., a Marine Patrol pilot spotted Eaton’s body.
The body was recovered approximately a half-mile West of Wiegand Place.
The Marine Patrol found that he was not wearing a life jacket or wet suit at the time of his tragic death.
The Marine Patrol has notified his family, and Eaton’s body was transported to a local funeral home.
“The Marine Patrol found that he was not wearing a life jacket or wet suit at the time of his tragic death.”
The missing two lines are that the water temperature was 43.7°F and the survival time in water that cold is not much more than an hour, if that.
I’ve seen a lot of highly educated people die doing really stupid things, and going out into the cold water of the Gulf of Maine, even in August let alone May, without protective gear and without a buddy is stupid. The sad thing here is that he apparently died in front of his family, as they were the reporting party to the Lobster Wardens.
He may have been an expert kayaker who had kayaked in the Arctic, I don’t know. But something tells me that he was one more idiot with more money than brains, who lacked the humility to admit that he really didn’t know what he was doing. I’ve seen way too many people like this, I’ve seen way too many of them get hurt, I’ve helped fish more than a few out of Penobscot Bay.