Very tragic indeed. A friend and I flipped a canoe about 10 years ago, lost all our gear but held onto the swamped canoe and made it back to shore. Panic mode can take over in a situation like that but it is important to remember if you fall into water without a life jacket especially and have to swim yourself to shore, first thing to do is kick off your shoes/boots, they will weight you down like cement. If you are wearing a jacket or any baggy/extra clothes rid yourself of them as well asap as you will be far more buoyant and have a much easier time swimming. Once you make it to shore, take off all remaining wet clothes immediately and hang them to dry. If you are lucky enough to keep a lighter in your pocket, blow the flint dry as quickly as possibly and try to make a fire. If you have no other means of communication, make the fire as big as possible, while keeping it controlled. Hopefully someone will spot the blaze in time and the radiant heat from the large fire will dry your clothes quicker.
That's about all I've got. Very tragic circumstance.
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