Missing boater in Round Valley

[Fishinfire]

The search is currently underway for an individual that fell out of a boat. Multiple dive teams and a NJSP Helicopter enroute as well.

[waynedane]

That's not sounding good, hope they find him safe.

[hammer4reel]

wicked storms rolling through now, hope they successfully found him .

[waynedane]

Read it was a kayaker w/o life jacket. Hope it turns out ok.

[Eskimo]

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Body recovered. No life vest. Man's ID will be disclosed soon.


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[buzzbaiter]

I have just one thought. If your in a kayak - or canoe or tube whatever - why wouldn't you attach yourself to that kayak via a rope(aka safety line) like surfers do with their boards? God forbid you flip at least that kayak ain't getting away from you and you can either get back in it or use it as a raft. Seems so simple to do.

[bigfishy]

Seems quite simple- and it is ...but as i'm sure you know, most ppl take there overall safety for granted....They don't think it can happen to them or truely think they can handle a swim if need be.....RV is deceptively HUGE.....The fact that you can see nearly the entire res from almost every area makes it look much smaller than it really is.....Even in fair weather conditions it is a dangerous place for the average boater/kayaker/canoeist.....And in dicey conditions even the most skilled boaters can be caught with their pants down....RV takes one or more lives EVERY yr...I sometimes worry that these inccedents will close the place fer good...

Thoughts and prayers go out to his family...:(

[phil]

I have just one thought. If your in a kayak - or canoe or tube whatever - why wouldn't you attach yourself to that kayak via a rope(aka safety line) like surfers do with their boards? God forbid you flip at least that kayak ain't getting away from you and you can either get back in it or use it as a raft. Seems so simple to do.

some people do that, personally, unless im in moving water I would never consider it. if you wear a pfd I don't see how anyone can die unless you have an actual medical emergency, or die from exposure. yet every year people die WITHOUT PFDs.

[Eskimo]

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The body has been identified. It is Chen Shao, 24, of North Brunswick.

Here's the updated article: http://www.nj.com/hunterdon-county-democrat/index.ssf/2014/07/no_life_jacket_on_body_of_24-y.html#incart_river


This is probably him:
http://www.classmates.com/people/Chen-Shao/8703034906

I think this is his Facebook Page. He was a flight instructor:
https://www.facebook.com/AzianPhoenix






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[buzzbaiter]

In all honesty, I can't remember the last time I saw someone here wearing a PFD in any photos.

Could only find this. Kudos to the parents but mom & dad u should be wearing one too!

http://www.njfishing.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=72795&d=1405795239

[buzzbaiter]

There are six men whose bodies have never been recovered in the waters of the reservoir. Authorities scoured the lake with a submarine in 2006 but were not able to locate any of their remains.



Thats kind of creepy.

[jimmythegreek]

I wear a self inflatable when fishing alone in water below 55 degrees, all the time, fishing or running. When fishing with a partner(s) I dont, I hope they will save me lol. I can swim well, the real problem is while running especially in a fast boat, u can hit wood or wake+wind and flip, knocking you out or handicapping you, then u drown. U should always wear a self inflatable or lifejacket w the larnyard clipped to u while under motor power, they will at least float u face up and u can breathe even if unconcious.

[YotaTruck91]

Just a damn shame all around. We moved to Hunterdon six years ago and immediately started exploring the Valley on the water and in the hills surrounding it. One thing that irks me is the reputation it has as a "killer" as if some mysterious sea monster or whirlpool is swallowing people alive:

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/06/njs_bermuda_triangle_mystery_s.html

The Valley is not a "Bermuda Triangle," it's a large lake with a long fetch length which allows large waves to develop when the wind picks up. If you don't watch the weather carefully, and worse yet, aren't wearing a PFD, you could quickly find yourself in trouble, just as you could on any large body of water. The stories that the newspaper writes about the Valley talk about "mysterious weather" and storms that "pop out of nowhere" as if they only happen over the reservoir itself and not the entire county/central part of the state.

Not to belittle the tragedy or cause any disrespect to the loved ones of those lost, but the Valley never killed anyone, a lack of preparation and a disregard for basic boating safety did. I enjoy kayaking and canoeing myself, but I feel that some kayakers/canoers feel that boating safety is only for powered craft and paddling a canoe or kayak is like riding a bike or hiking through the woods. People piloting unpowered craft should ALWAYS be wearing a PFD and should quite frankly, need to be more aware of the weather. When a thunderstorm is moving in, powerboaters can haul butt to the launch/shore if need be a lot faster than a kayaker or canoer can.

[phil]

Just a damn shame all around. We moved to Hunterdon six years ago and immediately started exploring the Valley on the water and in the hills surrounding it. One thing that irks me is the reputation it has as a "killer" as if some mysterious sea monster or whirlpool is swallowing people alive:

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/06/njs_bermuda_triangle_mystery_s.html

The Valley is not a "Bermuda Triangle," it's a large lake with a long fetch length which allows large waves to develop when the wind picks up. If you don't watch the weather carefully, and worse yet, aren't wearing a PFD, you could quickly find yourself in trouble, just as you could on any large body of water. The stories that the newspaper writes about the Valley talk about "mysterious weather" and storms that "pop out of nowhere" as if they only happen over the reservoir itself and not the entire county/central part of the state.

Not to belittle the tragedy or cause any disrespect to the loved ones of those lost, but the Valley never killed anyone, a lack of preparation and a disregard for basic boating safety did. I enjoy kayaking and canoeing myself, but I feel that some kayakers/canoers feel that boating safety is only for powered craft and paddling a canoe or kayak is like riding a bike or hiking through the woods. People piloting unpowered craft should ALWAYS be wearing a PFD and should quite frankly, need to be more aware of the weather. When a thunderstorm is moving in, powerboaters can haul butt to the launch/shore if need be a lot faster than a kayaker or canoer can.

No one here is going to disrespect the deceased and its sad no matter what. But you gotta wonder a 24 year old dies 150 yds from shore?? Unless he had a serious medical emergency I cant fathom how anyone dies that close to shore. Its a long cast. If you cant swim and go out on a kayak with NO PFD, thats just stupid

[NJTransplant]

Sad no matter what the circumstances were .he was just out to enjoy what we all do .....being on the water .

[YotaTruck91]

No one here is going to disrespect the deceased and its sad no matter what. But you gotta wonder a 24 year old dies 150 yds from shore?? Unless he had a serious medical emergency I cant fathom how anyone dies that close to shore. Its a long cast. If you cant swim and go out on a kayak with NO PFD, thats just stupid

I am betting that by the time someone spotted him he had been struggling to get back into the boat for a while. It's pretty sparse there on a Wednesday afternoon. If he had a PFD on he could have lasted hours in the water and been pulled out, cold and tired, but alive.

[acabtp]

No one here is going to disrespect the deceased and its sad no matter what. But you gotta wonder a 24 year old dies 150 yds from shore?? Unless he had a serious medical emergency I cant fathom how anyone dies that close to shore. Its a long cast. If you cant swim and go out on a kayak with NO PFD, thats just stupid
no offense to anyone else from new brunswick, but it isn't the most rural/swimming hole/hang out at the crick type of town... he probably just didn't know how to swim and panicked. with the warm surface water temps, if he had known how to tread water, he could have waited indefinitely for help to arrive. sad.

[muskynut]

Everyone should wear their PFDs at all times.....even if they know how to swim. The way they are made these days it's like wearing nothing. A shame:( Capt. Dave

[hudsonfisherman]

I am sorry for his friends and family. I live very close to RV, swim my dog there a couple times a week and also Scuba dive it regularly. We often enter the water right at the Kayak launch area and follow the bottom out to 50-80 ft or so. I think the park commission could do a better job of warning Kayakers and canoers about the dangers of open water and enforcing the PFD requirement. We see people all the time with overloaded canoes and kayaks departing and heading for the campgrounds on the other side of the lake with probably no real open water experience in boating or swimming without a thought for self rescue or eventual rescue by others. One sunday morning we were diving when the wind picked up and the State Police and a bunch of private boaters rescued an entire bachelor party in kayaks and canoes trying to return from the campground, several of them had overturned shortly after they left shore but rather than go back they still tryed to forge ahead against the wind to the far shore. Another thing I think that people don't realize is that the bottom drops off very quickly all around the lake except for a very few spots. Just to the right of the kayak launch it drops to 20 ft within 30ft of the shore. It was excavated and graded to hold maximum amount of water. Once you shove off from shore it's not like a lot of lakes where it's shallow or gradual for a while, it drops off fast and deep. Its a shame because if you know how to float, tread water, or wearing a PFD just go the way the wind is pushing you and you will eventually end up on shore, maybe not the shore you set out to but any port in a storm.

[Fishinfire]

This is why my kids and I ALWAYS wear our PFD (which are equipped with whistles and dive knives as well). I even went the extra step and we put our PFD's on and floated around in our pool. Better to have an idea of how they will react in a controlled environment before anything happens. Also, I see alot of people that wear waders in their kayak. To me that is a bad idea. If you do fall in, they can fill with water and you will sink like a bucket of water.

As far as the comment about who knows how long he was in the water, this was a witnessed fall from the kayak and help was called almost immediately.

Stay safe, stay afloat! Wear your PFD!!!

[Eskimo]

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Looking at his Facebook page, I can see he considered himself a pilot and a flight instructor.
https://www.facebook.com/AzianPhoenix

So, this is somebody trained to do safety checks and be alert for potentially dangerous situations, yet he was lulled into a false sense of confidence by the deceptively calm waters of Round Valley.


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[FASTEDDIE29]

Very sad and very young. Horrible! Strangely enough I recieved a friend request from this young man via FB 2 weeks ago. Didn't have any mutual friends that I could see so I declined. Friggin weird man! Damn!!! May he rest in peace!!!

[acabtp]

Also, I see alot of people that wear waders in their kayak. To me that is a bad idea. If you do fall in, they can fill with water and you will sink like a bucket of water.
Buckets of water don't sink (go try it out yourself). Waders, hip boots, etc do NOT pull you under... That is a common fishing misconception.

Just google wader drowning myth and see for yourself all the videos of people happily swimming in their waders. Not dangerous.

[buzzbaiter]

Buckets of water don't sink (go try it out yourself). Waders, hip boots, etc do NOT pull you under... That is a common fishing misconception.

Just google wader drowning myth and see for yourself all the videos of people happily swimming in their waders. Not dangerous.

I wouldn't say not dangerous more like not a death sentence. I certainly wouldn't recommend swimming in them :confused:

[Ken Lyons]

According to the local EMT's he couldn't swim!!

[briansnat]

I am sorry for his friends and family. I live very close to RV, swim my dog there a couple times a week and also Scuba dive it regularly. We often enter the water right at the Kayak launch area and follow the bottom out to 50-80 ft or so. I think the park commission could do a better job of warning Kayakers and canoers about the dangers of open water and enforcing the PFD requirement. We see people all the time with overloaded canoes and kayaks departing and heading for the campgrounds on the other side of the lake with probably no real open water experience in boating or swimming without a thought for self rescue or eventual rescue by others. One sunday morning we were diving when the wind picked up and the State Police and a bunch of private boaters rescued an entire bachelor party in kayaks and canoes trying to return from the campground, several of them had overturned shortly after they left shore but rather than go back they still tryed to forge ahead against the wind to the far shore. ...

Did this bachelor party rescue happen to occur last fall? We were camping there (Late Oct I think) when conditions were particularly brutal on Sunday morning. I saw a few canoes trying to paddle from the campground into the wind and a look through the binoculars showed they were having a tough go. I told my wife to call the park police because I was certain it wouldn't end well. Finally one was blown back to shore near our campsite. I went over to offer him assistance and he said it was a Boy Scout troop. They had sent most of the kids back via the hiking trail and the adults and older kids attempted to paddle back. A passing boater picked this guy up, so we packed up camp and headed into the waves. It was a wet ride back but I was glad wasn't in a canoe.

Half way across the lake we ran into an exhausted guy in a canoe just sitting there being tossed by the waves. He told us he was part of a bachelor party that had spent the weekend at the campground, but paddling back to the launch the wind and waves had scattered them. We threw him a line and tried to tow him, but had to go real slow. Eventually a rescue boat passed by and we flagged it down and they took him and his canoe aboard.

When we got back to the launch we were talking to some SAR guys and they said they had to pull a few canoers out of the water. Thankfully they were smart enough to be wearing PFDs. That water was only in the low 60's and they probably wouldn't have lasted long without them.

[stevejordan]

last week

[briansnat]

last week

I meant the situation that Hudsonfisherman was referring to with the rescue of the bachelor party. That was last week?

[hudsonfisherman]

Yes Briansnat, the bachelor party rescue was last fall and there was a boy scout troop involved at the same time now that I think about it. There were at least two boys that we saw brought back to the kayak launch on the rescue boat with a canoe onboard and they had scout shirts and hats on. They looked pretty worried until an adult leader came in vehicle and re-united with them. It happened while we were diving because we kept hearing the rescue boat running back and forth and knew it was more than the normal 9.9hp. we surfaced at the campers launch as it was going on. I asked one of the 25-30ish year old guys I saw bring in how did he end up being brought back in a rescue boat with his canoe onboard and he told me the same story you related. It was lucky that round valley didn't claim a few more that day, it was close. This most recent accident just brings it back to focus that all the ingredients for it to happen again are still there.

[briansnat]

Yes Briansnat, the bachelor party rescue was last fall and there was a boy scout troop involved at the same time now that I think about it. There were at least two boys that we saw brought back to the kayak launch on the rescue boat with a canoe onboard and they had scout shirts and hats on. They looked pretty worried until an adult leader came in vehicle and re-united with them. It happened while we were diving because we kept hearing the rescue boat running back and forth and knew it was more than the normal 9.9hp. we surfaced at the campers launch as it was going on. I asked one of the 25-30ish year old guys I saw bring in how did he end up being brought back in a rescue boat with his canoe onboard and he told me the same story you related. It was lucky that round valley didn't claim a few more that day, it was close. This most recent accident just brings it back to focus that all the ingredients for it to happen again are still there.

Must have been the same day. The waves were brutal, I'm not sure why the strobe lights weren't going. I'd like to take credit for getting the rescue going, but when we called the park police they said they were aware of the situation and on their way. We did give one of the bachelor party members a tow but it turned out that that was almost as dangerous as paddling (if not more). We had to go really, really slow or he would have dumped. Thankfully the rescue boat we flagged down took him and his boat. I later learned that a canoe shouldn't be towed on a line in rough water, it should be lashed to the side of the tow boat.

[hudsonfisherman]

yup, pretty sure the guy you towed for a bit is the same guy that I talked to on shore too. My observation is that when the strobes come on it may already be to late for inexperienced boaters in kayaks and canoes. We've seen a lot of beat up kayakers and canoers come back to the campers launch on sunday morning after crossing from the campground when the strobes have NOT been on but the wind was picking up.

[briansnat]

yup, pretty sure the guy you towed for a bit is the same guy that I talked to on shore too. My observation is that when the strobes come on it may already be to late for inexperienced boaters in kayaks and canoes. We've seen a lot of beat up kayakers and canoers come back to the campers launch on sunday morning after crossing from the campground when the strobes have NOT been on but the wind was picking up.

My wife and I had to paddle back from the campground once into a stiff wind and waves. We're very experienced paddlers and still had a rough time. The people who have no clue what they are doing scare me going out there. Like the guys who were paddling solo from the rear seat and thought they were going to have a snowballs chance of paddling into the wind that way.