Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

hope that by making others more aware of the problems also , this most recent trend of loss in Baja can be reversed . Searc h and Rescue of t he Californ ias The Search a nd Rescu e of th e Californias (SA ROC) is a grou p made up o f rescu e gro u ps fr om both th e Unite d States a nd Mexico . SAROC is jointly coordina ted by th e Chief of the Mexi ca li Fi re Department and t he Sa n Diego County Sh eriffs Office. The m an y rescue groups which are a pa rt of SAROC are m ad e up of well tr a ined . dedicated person s who do na te th eir skills a nd ti me . They . volunteer thei r vehicles. gear a nd kn owled ge in rescu in g those who become lost or d isa bl ed . Alt ho ug h not an offi cia l part of th e group . the Mexican vaq ueros wit h their excep tio nal track ing skills have a lso been of im mense va lue. as ha ve some of the old ra nch families such as the Mel ings. I l I - ....... The Problem Howto • survive inBaja By M. Hjalmarson W r 42 ith increasing frequency. especi al- . Iy during th e sum mer months, one reads of bik ers lost in Baja . In 'genera l. the men a~e experi- enced riders , but all too often t heir rides have . ended in tragedy. Aga in in -june, two you ng m en lost thei r lives in the Baj a desert. Not long before th a t a grou p wit h H arry O xley were luck ier . but their ex pe rience (See Cy cle Ne ws, #9 . Ma rch 9, 1977 ) is one they will never fo rget. In May anothe r bik er , Ri ck Miller, cras he d wh ile helpin g to ma rk th e SCORE Baja 500 co u rse . H e was fou nd a nd saved . Miller had no food , wat er or m aps. no r was he fa m ilia r with th e a rea . In ea rly June . a Mexican ph otographer phot ographin g race pre· runners d ied . In th e remote de sert wild erness .no rth of San Felipe and east of the Sierra Ju arez m ounta ins . a n unusu all y high number of men have lost thei r lives in th e past yea r. It is inev it a ble tha t t he tragedy will be rep eat ed . , Why are m en losi ng th eir lives in this area of Baja? H ow ca n it be avoided? Wha t ca n you do fo r yo u r safety if you pla n to ride' in Baja . particularly the desert a reas? Who do you co ntact if you suspect a friend o r fa mily m ember m ay need hel p ? In the past 15 years my fa mily has traveled a good portion of th e Baja Cal ifo rn ia pe ninsula - by truck, m oto rcycle and Baj a . bug . I n the past five years we have covered th ousands of m iles in the northern part of Baja helping to layout and put on the Tecate 500. Because of ou r fa miliarity with the area , we took part in July of 1976 in th e searc h for W illiam Kastorff a nd Matsa yuk i T anaka. two motorcycli sts wh o were u lt im ately fo und dead in the Mex ican desert. At tha t ti me we met M r. Ed Goodell . search coordinator of th e De Anza Rescu e Unit . which is centered in th e Imperial Valley. Goodell is an expert on su rviva l and sea rch and rescue. He has taken part in over 100 sea rches in the deserts of Baja California and th e Imperial Valley . We visited recently with Goodell and with Lt. Robert Morse. recently. retired coordinator of the Search and Rescue of the Californias (SA ROC) and Sgt. John Mander, present coordinator, concerning search and rescue, particularly in Baja . These conversations made us much more aware of the problems of survival and as a result changed some of our ways of travel. We particularly came to the realization that even with our experience off-road in Baja. circumstances could put us in the same situation as those who have lost their lives. It is our As th e Bu reau of Land Ma nag em ent ( BLM) has tightened its grip on riding in California , more a nd more motorcyclists have turned to Mex ico for riding fr eed om . The popularity of the SCORE ra ces has a lso drawn many. The d esert wilderness in Baja can be much more tr eacherous than the high desert near Los Angeles where so many are used to riding. Being almost at sea level . temperatures are often considerably higher in Baja. a nd it is much more humid . The. area from Puertociros north to Mexica li and west to Tecate is an a rea in which many have become lost. Beginning with the death in 1975 of Fred Mundy , the area bounded on the south by San Felipe , north to Laguna Salada and west to th e Sierra Juarez has become particularly problernsome , It is an im posi ng a nd wild area , with extrem ely rugged ter ra in with little vegetation . The road drops fr om 4 ,000 feet to sea level. Itis in th is area that most mo torcycl ists are losin g their lives. More a nd m ore riders. ei t he r accident a lly or o ut of ignorance of the true wilderness bel ow a re goi ng down the o ld pole line road into the desert . Some . ha ve m a de a wrong tu rn , realizi ng too la te it' s not the wav to Va lle de Trinid ad . O thers ha ve tried to follo w the SCO RE course. The SC O RE co urse map shows gas at Checkpoint II. This is the day of the race only! There is no gas normally avai lab le in the a rea at a ll! Even with big gas tanks. most bi kes cannot go from one gas point to the next place it is available . The problem is.compounded by the fact tha t the area is criss -crossed by many wads ofte n making it difficult to follow the correct trails . Acco rd ing to the SA RO C report on the search for Tanaka a nd Kast o rff, " T his area of Mexico is a popul a r area for bikers. being part of th e race co urse . but it shou ld be remembered.that it covers seve ral hundred square miles with virtually no sign of ha b itat io n other than a couple of isolated ranch hou ses. It is a desert with th e normal lack of wa ter a nd it is a po te n tia lly fat al a rea for a bike r in th e sum mer. Unless th ey a re accompanied by a veh icle it is extremely di ffic ult . if no t im poss ib le. to ca rry eno ug h . wa ter to co m pe nsa te fo r d eh ydration . If a ny type of im mo bi liza tion sho u ld occ u r the cha nces of surviva l are a lmost non-exisfen t. Our on ly reco mmend a ti on fo r surviva l 'woll id be to stay ou t of t he desert wilderness d uri ng t he sum mer m ont hs." l " I . The effects of d ehydration on the human . body depend primarily on the degree of dehydration . the amount of physical activit y a nd th e temperature . For sm a ll amounts of dehydration . ther e may be no a p pa re nt effect. As deh ydration inc re ases th ere ma y be some mild thirst accom pa nied by a loss of appeti te for food . (This occurs a t . 1% dehydra tio n - a loss of 1% of your bod y weigh t. ) Add ition al de hyd ra tion (2%) will res ult in a · feeli ng .of weakness and fa tigu e , and may cause emotional instability and im p a ir me nr of judgement ('! %) , As dehydration furt her increases . the physica l and rnenral effects become gradually more severe. until the individual collapses and dies of heat stroke (6-10%). A se rious level of dehvdra tion can often be reached without t he victim realizing it. Often his friends may notice long before the victi m does . 2. In hot weather thirst does no t keep pace wit h the bod y's need for wa te r . so you sho uld dri nk a lot m ore th an you feel like drinki ng . Dr inks containi ng alcoho l o r caffeine are not as good beca use they ac t as di ure tics a nd increa se wat e r loss in urine . 3. Even if you find yourse lf in a survival situat ion do no t try to conserve wate r. It is th e wat er in you r body th at pr events de hyd ra tio n. not th e wa ter in your ca nteen . It is su r prising how m any pe rso ns have been fo u nd dead with half full canteens. 4 . W ear proper clot hing - long pa nts , lon g slee ve sh irt. shoes. Keep you r head covered . 5. It has been shown t ha t a l 54-pou nd person carrying a 20 -pound pack and walki ng in the sun at 100· would require 1.3 q uarts of wa te r pe r ho ur to replace that which is lost due to swea ting. It is best to exert as littl e energy as possible. 6. The ' difference be tween good shade and direct sun ligh t is 'e q u iva le n t to a 10· di fference in ai r tem pera tu re. The sa nd itself may have a surface temperature of 140 · 150 degrees so it is best to stay u p off the sa nd wh en ever possibl e. 7. An average pe rso n sitting in t he su n o n a 110 degree day will survive on ly eig ht ho urs without water . 8 . Under th e m ost ideal ;ondi tio ns a so la r still will gi ve o n ly o ne o r two glasses of wat er a day. and in hot weather a person will swea t m ore water than that m aking th e sti ll. ' 9 . A person will a lso sweat fast er th an he ca n get water out of a barre) cac tus during hot w..ather. Dese rt survival " Few people realize t hat the hot su m mer desert is o ne of the most hostile environments o n earth'. W a ter is the most valuable piece or' survival eq uipment that a nyone can have in the desert ," according to the De Anza Rescue uni t publication Survioal; The biggest problem one faces in heat is mi nd is effected fairly quickly and thus the abi lity to m ake rational decisions. " Many factors affect wat er req uirements . among t hese t he most important a re tempera ture , p hysica l ac ti vity . body size a nd clothing." The more one moves the faster the dehydra tion process. H eat a nd hum id ity. as a re ofte n fo u nd in this a rea of Baja , co m bi ne to ca use faster dehydra tio n. Du e to th e humid it y. t he evaporation of persp ir ation need ed to coo l t he bod y occ u rs at a higher temperature. Ther efore . th e body per spires more to try to cool itself, thus ca using faster dehydration . The De Anza Rescue Unit in particular is concerned with desert rescue. Having found that many theories on desert surviva l were based on 30 year-old Army tests. Tomas J. Bozak. a De Anza member, com p iled ~hat has been learned over the past years in their searches. Many of the findings are surprising and contrary to popular belief. Bozak's resea rc h has been written in a paper , "Physiological Aspects of Search and Rescue in the Desert ." Following are some of his findings : This could save i --your life! I There are many , many more problems with dehydration . It is especially important to rea lize I how quickly one's mind is e ffe c ted due to I dehydration in hot weather. l a n e of Mr. Goodell's experiences as related to .i I

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