Todd Ellison
Dies in Boating Accident
Todd Ellison, Hoigaards Canoe Derby, June 8, 2006
Many of you may have heard already through word of mouth
or through the media that Todd Ellison died on Friday
October 7th on lake Mille Lacs.
This is devastating for everyone, but most of all Todd's
mother, JoAnne his sister, Lisa, and immediate family. I
know that you all have questions. My goal here is to
provide a complete factual account of what occurred. This
is to spare all of you from any misinformation that may
develop as rumors spread, but also to spare everyone
involved from having to recount a painful story too many
times. Please forward this to those who know Todd and are
not on this email list. I do not have everyone's contact
information.
Here is what happened:
Five of us (Todd Ellison, Zach Handler, Mike Brumbaugh,
Jon Sanborn, and John Abrahams) left in surfskis from cove
bay at the south end of lake Mille Lacs. The goal was to
paddle north by northeast to Malmo, a 16 mile down wind
run. This is a typical surfski trip for us. Conditions
were not extreme: Air temperature 77F, water 60F, wind 20
- 30 mph from the south, sunny skies. Waves were moderate.
Perhaps 4 to 6 feet from trough to crest in most sections
of the lake, but some sections were much flatter. These
are not extreme conditions in a surfski. However, there
are areas in the lake where "reefs" of piled stone come
close to the surface and cause large waves in a very small
area. Some of these isolated waves associated with these
reefs may have been 12 feet tall. Those were large waves.
The plan, from before we got on the water, was that one of
the most experienced paddlers in the group would escort
Todd, the least experienced in terms of big waves, in the
event that Todd was having any difficulty. Todd was in one
of John Abraham's surfskis, a custom kayaks Synergy. This
is an extremely stable boat in big water, which is why we
insisted that Todd use it. It was much more seaworthy than
Todd's own surfski.
As far as safety equipment, this is what we had: Everyone
had on neoprene, a life jacket, and a leg leash. We had 3
vhf radios and 4 cell phones. Todd was wearing a 3mm
farmerjohn wet suit and two rashguards on top. He had a
life jacket on, a leash from his ankle to the boat, and a
cell phone in a waterproof case.
Todd was actually handling the waves just fine, though at
a slower pace then everyone else. This was not unexpected
given his smaller amount of big wave experience. That
said, he was paddling well, and enjoyed surfing waves for
80 to 100 yards at a time. Todd was having a great time.
But because he was slower, and also getting pushed
slightly off course, we did implement the agreed upon
plan, which was that one of the strongest paddlers would
be next to Todd's boat at all times.
Everything was going fine until about half way across the
lake. This was in the area of "three mile reef" which is
about 2.5 miles off the east shore of the lake. At that
point, Todd capsized, likely caused by one of the bigger
waves associated with the reef. A capsize in a surfski is
like taking a fall downhill skiing. It happens all the
time and is an expected part of the sport. The fact that
Todd had only one fall in that distance of paddling shows
that he had been handling the conditions quite well.
The catastrophic event was that when Todd came to the
surface of the water, he was no longer attached to his
boat. Examination of the boat the following day revealed
that the failure was in the velcro wrap that secures the
leash to the ankle. In the several seconds it took for
Todd to get to the surface and get his bearings, his boat
was already blown out of reach. He swam to the the boat
that was escorting him, and tried to climb on, which
caused that boat to capsize. The waves were very big at
that point, and the escort surfski was one of the tippy
racing models that the vast majority of us paddle. At that
point Todd climbed onto the escort ski, and was balanced
there without a paddle. The escort paddler, in the water
at this point, separated from his ski and made a desperate
attempt to swim for Todd's boat. This was unsuccessful. He
returned to his boat. At that point Todd was back in the
water. It is impossible to simply balance in one of these
boats in big waves without a paddle. Given the size of the
waves, and the tippyness of the boat, there was
unfortunately no way for one of them to paddle as the
other held on to the boat. The boat would simply capsize
immediately when they tried that.
So at that point it was the two of them, holding onto the
boat, bobbing along in large waves. They did that for
about 10 minutes. They did not have a means of
communication because the cellphone was on Todd's boat,
which was long gone. This is where a decision had to be
made. There were only two options. One was to simply bob
along like that hoping that they washed into shore. The
other was for one of them to leave the other floating, and
to make a desperate attempt to paddle to shore and get
help. Between the two of them they decided on the latter
plan.
This was clearly the correct decision to make. By paddling
to shore, a search party could be mounted within an hour.
If they had stayed with the boat, there would have been no
search party. That is because it was expected that Todd
and his escort could have taken up to 2 - 3 hours longer
to make the crossing. By the time the others already on
shore had decided something was definitely wrong, it would
have been getting dark and no effective search could have
been mounted. A loose surfski blows across the water fast,
but a ski anchored by two people in the water does not.
The trajectory the wind was going would have blown them 8
- 10 miles before they hit shore. They would have been
moving at perhaps 1/2 mile per hour.
So the escort paddler had to abandon his good friend in
the water. Todd was calm and in agreement with the plan.
The escort paddler, full of adrenaline, raced to shore
like hell in large and breaking beam waves. He aimed for
resort on shore. It took 45 minutes to get to shore and
call 911. Very soon there were multiple search boats on
the water. It was too windy for a helicopter, so a fixed
wing airplane was flying a grid pattern above the waves.
This started by 4 pm. Sunset was 7 pm. The search
continued until about 9pm and then was halted for the
night. The rest of us, in the company of the sheriff
deputy and other rescue personnel, watched from shore
until 9pm.
The reality is that in large waves, it is nearly
impossible to spot another paddler, not to mention a
swimmer's head bobbing along. Todd was wearing a blaze
orange hunting cap which we had tied to his life jacket.
The authorities knew this and were looking for that color.
The following morning the search resumed. We were up at
day break to resume the search ourselves from boat and by
foot. Just after daybreak, one of the 4-wheelers that had
been driving the perimeter of the lake through the night,
located Todd's boat. It was exactly where we expected it
would meet land. We immediately drove to that location to
begin our own search of the shoreline in our surfskis,
looking for any signs of Todd. Shortly thereafter we were
alerted by the sheriff that Todd's body had been located.
He was found dead in the water, about a mile from where he
was capsized. This was the area in which all search
efforts had been concentrated the previous afternoon.
Kate Ellis accompanied by one of her close friends came up
in Friday evening to assist in our search the next
morning. Kate's friend went with the sheriff and confirmed
that the body was Todd.
At this point we do not know why Todd died. Preliminary
assessment by rescue personnel found his chest to be
tight, suggesting that he drowned, rather than dying of
hypothermia, but that is purely speculation. They believed
he had been dead quite a long time. We do not know if he
had a heart attack from the stress of the situation, or if
he got pushed against a submerged rock by a large wave. It
is all a guess. The medical examiner will do an autopsy to
determine the exact mechanism of death. We do not know the
time frame on getting that completed, but we will keep the
paddling community informed.
We are all devastated by this experience, and none of us
are doing very well. We lost a cherished friend and
paddling partner. All of you have also lost Todd.
Personally I cannot fully express my grief. I hope that
this account gives all of you some comfort.
As a group we have decided that all media requests should
be directed to Kjell Peterson, who knew Todd the best of
any paddler other than Kate.
We were all blessed to have the opportunity to know such a
fine human being, and he will never be replaced.
At some point in the next few weeks we will have some sort
of a memorial/celebration of Todd's life. We will let the
paddling community know the details as we figure them out.
Zach Handler
On behalf of Jon, John, Mike, Kate and Kjell.
