Kayaker dies after being hit by train

News and Record ^ | 3/9/06 | AP

[msnimje]

How did the train get in the water?

Was it in the Tunnel that is part of the Big Dig in Massachusetts?

[DJ Taylor]

Here's what I think happened:

DeLaVergne was reconning the area with his camping gear in a ruck sack on his back. He was faced with the choice of either climbing over a steep ridge line or taking a short cut by cutting through the tunnel. He fooled himself by thinking he could hear the train if it was coming and could get out of the way in time. He could probably see daylight at the other end of the tunnel, he didn't hear a train, and one would think they could hear a train in those mountains for quite a distance, so he went for it.

This scenario has happened before, and I was tempted in my young and impatient years to do the same thing. But no sane man, as Mr.DeLaVergne seems to have been would camp in a railroad tunnel as the newspaper reporter is saying.

[dfwgator]

Or Senator Kennedy was the engineer.

[WV Mountain Mama]

Yeah, I wonder how much clearance a train has from the tracks. maybe that is what people underestimate or don't take into account.

[SJSAMPLE]

Poor guy.
His standing as a world-class kayaker will forever make his death a cruel joke.

[Mount Athos]

That seems like a really good theory. I bet your idea is right and the article is wrong.

[Moonman62]

Rain forced him 200 feet inside the tunnel? That's hardly plausible.

And the article says he fell in front of the train.

[CIB-173RDABN]

Actually I was thinking the same thing. He was so far in the tunnel, once he heard it, it was just too far to run to get out of the way. I guess we will really never know what happened.

[TSgt]

Kayakers never cease to amaze me especially on a choppy day at the lake. They pop up and disappear into the swells and waves. They are hard for boaters like myself to see and could easily end up getting run over.

They insist on paddling in the middle of the boating lanes and then give boaters dirty looks when we pass them.

I'm not against kayakers. They just need to be more sensible when and where to paddle or expect to have their head sliced open by a MerCruiser.

[SquirrelKing]

I want to believe you are right. I'm sure camping gear was scattered all over the place when they found him.

"Dear Mom, when I die, please post it on FR, those folks don't get out much and they really need the laughs..."

=)

[GAD]

Time of the accident would tell us alot.

3am - then he was asleppin'.

[csvset]

I wonder how much clearance a train has from the tracks.

I was thinking the same thing. I can imagine that a train barreling through a tunnel might create a bit of turbulence. Could he have been drawn towards the train?

[vwunpimsmyride]

Found this on the Darwin Awards site.

Dumb Kayaker Defeated By Falls

2005 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance
Hi. I submitted the "Holiday Hypothermia" story, and now I see why it was tossed.
I found something MUCH more Darwanian. Though two DAs (Bottom Of The Barrel and Niagara Falls)about Niagara Falls are already on the site, this guy's idiocy couldn't have been missed.

Jesse Sharp, 28, was an experienced white water kayaker. An unemployed bachelor from Tennesee, he had been planning on a trip over Niagara Falls for years.

On October 5, 1990, our hero, was splashing around in Niagara Falls in his 3.6m kayak.

Without a helmet or lifejacket.

Jesse realized he wouldn't be recongized on video (that three friends were taping) without a helmet. And the prudent desicion to not wear a lifejacket? If he got caught under the falls, he couldn't escape! He also must have realized that he would have no chance of winning a Darwin!

But the fall was just too strong for this helmet-less, lifejacket-less, common sense-less, kayaker.

His body hasn't been recovered. Maybe it's too ashamed.

Submitted on 01/05/2006

[Mind-numbed Robot]

"The engineer told us that he had just enough time to catch a glimpse of him before he fell in front of the train.

Many of you are overlooking this little nugget of information.

[skimask]

"And the article says he fell in front of the train."

He may have been running and slipped.The scenario in post #62 seems very plausible.

[vwunpimsmyride]

I submitted the story to Darwin Awards.

[BillyBonebrake]

I'm still holding the laptop upside down...coffee EVERYWHERE.

[BadAndy]

"At least his girlfriend wasn't eaten by a bear."

"I suspect he was walking through the tunnel to go kayaking in a grizzly den"

[vwunpimsmyride]

What is a left handed smoker? Does he pick his nose with his right?

[Old Professer]

Anything that leaves tracks that size is bound to do you some serious hurt.