Batan to Sabtang Crossing

On Dec 15, Wednesday, 12.31pm, we finally received our kayaks on a SEAIR special flight with Joesph, our land safety coordinator.

The team was elated!

Everyone set about preparing the kayaks for launch on the same day, a 16km journey with a 8km crossing to Sabtang Island. Electronics was rush charged; indeed everything was rushed towards a departure time of 2.30pm. The Sun sets at 5.15pm in December, giving us about 3 hours of daylight to make the crossing.

When the last kayaks set off, it was already 4.15pm.

The weather has changed. The calm seas of the past few days was now filled with long slow swells a few meters high. The kayaks were lifted up and down like play toys along the Batan Island coast. The horizon was frequently blocked by the swelling waves.

I sent Chan and Dave as advance team to locate and mark the campsite and landing spot. Night paddling is all but sure, and no safe landing is possible if the whole team goes in blind at night.

At 6pm, the advance team reached the shores of Sabtang Island, and was horrified by what they saw. Huge surf was breaking all along the northern coast. E9, our planned campsite, was ringed by shallow reef. The sounds of the crashing waves were deafening. 

They picked the landing site and decided to wait.

At around 6.45pm, the second group arrived and rendezvous with the advance team. The third group was still someway back. 

Lead by YH, the group decided to attempt a surf landing in the dark. After a short briefing, the first group went in through the crashing waves. Immediately the crashing waves upended and capsized 3 kayaks.

By now the third group was not far behind, trying to see the marked landing. I tried raising the advance team to give me the coordinates for the landing site, but there was too much clutter in the VHF channel. 

"Is the beach clear for landing?", Chan's voice finally cracked over the VHF.

"Surf zone is small. Big rock on left. Back paddle if needed to stay behind the breaking waves. At most 3 waves you need to clear. Good luck!", YH shouted in the VHF.

We were nearing the landing.

Closer, we could see the a cluster of busy lights and strobes activities on the beach.

I gave a quick brief to Bimo and Kat and some safety surf landing tips for the landing. It was darkness and the waves were deafening.

"Rock on your left! Stay clear of rock!", YH shouted in the VHF.

Bimo went in first. Me and Kat followed after.

On the shore, the guys looked at our lights and immediately knew we were landing at the wrong place.

"Too late! Run to them!", YH shouted to the rest. And they sprinted right to our landing site.

The surf roared like thunder.

A giant wave picked up the kayak and vertically plough its bow into the water. Immediately I knew I made a bad and perhaps fatal judgement. All of a sudden I was standing in the kayak with a leg out. My VHF strap then some found a way to hook itself on the deck line and around my leg. I was dangling and tied. Another wave crashed.

From the corner of my eye, Kat's kayak flew up mid-air and crashed landed. She landed in the water with her red flickering strobe. In an instance, another wave crashed over her and she was gone.

I was being sucked out by the strong receding current, frantically pushing my twisted and flooded kayak to shore, and screaming for the guys to go out and get Kat. I turned around and could not see the red flickering light anywhere...