Kayaker drowns in Great Salt lake
A 53-year-old Massachusetts man drowned Saturday, July 13, 2013, near Antelope Island State Park while on a kayak rented from a local rental concession. (BUBBA BROWN/Standard-Examiner)
A 53-year-old Massachusetts man drowned Saturday, July 13, 2013, near Antelope Island State Park while on a kayak rented from a local rental concession. (BUBBA BROWN/Standard-Examiner)
A 53-year-old Massachusetts man drowned Saturday, July 13, 2013, near Antelope Island State Park while on a kayak rented from a local rental concession. (BUBBA BROWN/Standard-Examiner)
A 53-year-old Massachusetts man drowned Saturday, July 13, 2013, near Antelope Island State Park while on a kayak rented from a local rental concession. (BUBBA BROWN/Standard-Examiner)
ANTELOPE ISLAND — A 53-year-old Massachusetts man drowned Saturday afternoon while kayaking in the Great Salt Lake, near Antelope Island State Park, despite clear weather and calm waters.
Davis County sheriff’s detective Ken Warnshuis said people driving on the causeway saw the man floating near his kayak around 3:30 p.m., just north of the marina.
The people then notified park officials at a nearby kayak rental concession. Two officials from the concession got in a motorboat, retrieved the man and performed CPR on him.
Paramedics and a medical helicopter were called in, but the man was dead on scene, said Davis County Sheriff’s Sgt. Susan Poulsen.
It is believed the man could have been face-down in the water for as few as 10 minutes.
Assistant Park Manager John Sullivan said the man was alone, had rented a kayak from the rental concession and indicated he was an experienced kayaker. He was issued a life vest but was not wearing it when he died.
“You’re always safer in pairs, and you’re always safer with a life jacket,” Sullivan said.
Investigators are unsure what caused the man to end up in the water and drown, Sullivan said. The weather was calm and the lake was flat, and there was nothing underneath the kayak that could have tipped it.
Additionally, the style of kayak the man had rented does not strap in its occupants.
The man was found 75 to 100 yards from the shore, Sullivan said, in water estimated to be 8 to 10 feet deep.
The Davis County Sheriff’s Office and state park officials are working in conjunction to investigate. The state medical examiner was expected to examine the body for an exact cause of death.
Police had not yet discovered why the man was in Utah.
