A fun photo opportunity turned into a minor rescue mission at the lake.

Mom and a group of other kayakers provided me with a pretty unique chance to go take night pictures of them with the City of Lights on the background, but things didn't go quite to plan. The weather was, like it often is in autumn, cold, moist and windy, and very dark at the lake where the city lights can't reach. Some people were not equipped to handle these kind of conditions and probably overestimated their skills, and didn't gear up properly.

Mom and her friend are smart and experienced kayakers and were all geared up to handle the conditions, and with some playful lights as extras in honour of the City of Lights festival. The three of us, me as a non-kayaker, were all thinking to ourselves

"Really, is that what they are wearing!?"

when looking at other people when they were getting into their kayaks, while mom and her friend were both in dry suits, wool layers and with proper lights. Some of these idiots were in leggings and without a beanie, going kayaking in windy, dark conditions, with the water temperature being about 7 degrees Celsius. Okay whatever, that's their problem.

So the kayakers left and I took a few shots on their departure, then left with the car to drive ahead of them. I picked up my sister along the way and we walked to a big bridge to wait for the kayaks to paddle under it. Imagine the photo opportunity; kayaks over dark water, with little lights on them, shot directly from above. Great right?

Yeah it fucking would have been if some inexperienced tool didn't flip their kayak over and we had to rush to help. It was with pure luck of the draw that I was even in town and had the car parked really close to where the accident happened. So me and my sister rushed to the scene and we ended up driving the poor fella and his kayak to his car on the other side of the city so that the others could continue their outing. He was pretty shaken up and obviously cold from the unintentional swim in the lake. _{Fun sidenote, a few minutes earlier me and sis saw a couple people coming from the beach, wearing flip flops and towels, clearly having been on a swim intentionally.}

The capsized fella survived with a little scare, he later came to the debriefing after a hot shower and change of clothes, and probably a good cry. I'm sure everyone learned something from their trip and realised that you can't go night kayaking like this thinking it's just a little stroll around the block. Even if you yourself are not in trouble, having to help someone and waiting around can get really cold and the trip might take hours more than intended.

I was happy to help but the rescue mission took us so long that I really did not have a chance to go take the pictures I wanted before I already had to be back to meet the rest of the crew back at shore. I better have earned to good fucking KARMA for this.

Do not underestimate nature and overestimate yourself.