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I talked to someone in a reticulated pedal boat the other day about how he rescued a kayak instructor from drowning because he could not reverse himself from being turned upside down in front of his own class who didn't realize he was serious about tapping the hull to indicate he needed help. He calls kayaks "death traps". I believe him.

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Wet exits are the fallback and aren't hard. Just pull the strap on the spray skirt or, failing that, grab a double-fistful of skirt and pop it off the side.

Probably the instructor knew about that, and something went wrong anyway? I wonder, then, what that might have been

Sometimes people tuck the grab-loop inside their spray skirt by mistake, which is why it's worth practicing one of the back-up techniques. It's also possible for an improperly burped dry-suit to trap someone in a boat (I know of at least one fatality in this way). I wouldn't expect an instructor to make these mistakes, but it's possible.

Oh, that sounds really dangerous to forget / happen

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