[DAY 150] A capsized kayak

Unfortunately, the dinghy was still out of operation and I had to use the kayak to pace me. Swells pushed us in the right direction, south east. Some of them were cresting, giving me a good push. Maria, in the kayak was surfing as well and managed to keep the kayak up almost through the day.
Unknown to her, each time a wave crashed on the kayak, water seeped into the compartment, filling it up and make it more and more unstable.
We had picked up a couple of plastic debris, one of them was a blue crate I attached on the back of the kayak.
I was surprised when I saw it floating in the water but as soon as I looked out of the water in the direction of the kayak, I quickly understood why.
Maria had capsized and a few of the items were floating around her. I helped her flip the kayak over and both of us quickly grabbed everything that was loose and lashed them back on the kayak. We weren’t able to retrieve the crate though.
The kayak was barely floating and we couldn’t get the water out. Maria radioed Seeker and a few minutes later they got to our location. The waves and strength of the wind made our retrieval very challenging. I first grabbed the two most important grab bags, those with our electronics (radios and GPS tracker), and swam to our sailboat and passed them on to Paul. Then I went back to the kayak to help Maria. After a couple of trials, we were finally on Seeker and the Kayak was secured along her. The kayak was so heavy with water that it had to be winched out before the plug was removed to release the water.
Ben

Weather conditions:
Cloudy (cloud coverage 8/8)
Wind speed: 17 kts
Wind direction: W
Waves height: 1-1.5 m
Waves direction: W
Water temperature: 25.1°C