If this was a perfect world everyone out in the dark could see everything, and everyone boating will do what they are supposed to. But come on!!! you can be the most diligent boater out there and miss something, hence this is called an
accident. Accidents do happen no matter how diligent everyone is. Everyone involved took a chance that evening. The kyakers took a chance by going out at night without lights and lost. The powerboater took a chance going out at night and lost by finding the one peice of water that happened to have an unlighted kayak in it. It was an accident, and a case of everyone being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The chance of this meeting would have been much smaller if the kayak had a light, or even if the kayaker had a reflective sash on instead of nothing.
As the saying goes [stuff] happens and unfortunately it happened to this group of people. Luckily no one was hurt besides the kayak.