Well passing judgement is one thing but with limited details, it makes perfect sense to discuss the what-if's and maybe's.
I doubt that anyone here was meaning to be judgmental and certainly not critical, but lets face it, most of us are here to learn - even if that means learning through other people's misfortunes.
There are a fair few kayakers / canoeists on the forum and I'm sure I'm not the only one to have lost a mate through a kayaking accident (or know of someone who has). My m8 died because he chose to act recklessly - not because of the wrong kit, or insufficent skill - he just failed to pay enough respect to the elements.
I learnt from that death and changed my 'habits' accordingly. I agree that judging people is always going to hurt someone, but we'd be fools not to take opportunites, such as this one, to (figuratively) put ourselves in the same place and judge ourselves.