Here's an article from my seacoast NH paper
last week. I've clipped some of the more pertinent info below.
Quote:
A local man died Sunday after his kayak capsized in upper Frenchman Bay in Lamoine, Maine.
Officials say 43-year-old Steven Brooks of Squamscott Road was pronounced dead by paramedics at the Lamoine State Park docks, shortly after being pulled from the water.
MacDonald said both were inexperienced kayakers and described the water as rough that day with 2- to 3-foot chops.
At one point, the officer said, the female kayaker paddled ahead of Brooks and looked back and saw his kayak had flipped over.
"He was hanging onto the kayak with his right hand and had his glasses and paddle in his left hand," MacDonald said.
MacDonald said Brooks wasn't very responsive when the other kayaker got to him and had labored breathing. He then slipped under water.
The other kayaker was able to bring him back up but then he slipped under again, according to MacDonald. The other kayaker was once again able to bring him back up.
CPR was immediately rendered to Brooks on the sailboat, but he was pronounced dead when the boat returned to the docks, which was about three-quarters of a mile away, according to MacDonald.
MacDonald said Brooks had a life jacket on the kayak but he wasn't wearing it. He estimated that Brooks was in the water for 15 minutes.
The state medical examiner's office will perform an autopsy on Brooks to determined if he died as a result of drowning or a medical issue.
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The cause of death was ultimately identified as cardiac arrest but it's tough to tell if that was brought about by struggling to stay afloat/right the kayak - something that would have been made a lot easier had he been wearing a PFD.