[Paddlewise] Climbing on back deck

Jennifer Joy wrote:
> 
> We learned a rescue from the BCU guys called the 'curl rescue'.  This
> is my take on it after one quick practice session (just yesterday, so
> it is still very fresh in my mind).  It is supposed to be a good deep
> water/rough water rescue.  As with any rescue having it demo'ed by
> someone who knows what they are doing really helps.  This one seems
> worthy of merit.
> 
> I was pretty wiped by the time we did this, and between the stuff on
> my PFD front and the stuff on my rescuer's deck I could not get up.
> (I have never failed to do this before ... I felt like a sea slug!)
> A third kayak came around to give me a way to push with my feet and I
> finally got in.  This taught me some good lessons about deck
> clutter, PFD clutter, and fatigued paddler rescuing (the legs are
> often stronger than the arms :-).
> 
> Here's how it goes:
> -The boat flips.
> -The rescuer grabs the flipped boat, orientation no matter, and holds
> on to it, pulling it parallel and alongside.  (It is NOT upright)
> -The swimmer goes around to the front of the rescuer's boat
> (following their hull trying to obtain the security of the rescuer's
> boat's bowlines as quickly as possible)
> -The swimmer gives their paddle to the rescuer (if handy) and the
> two paddles are used together to help hold the boats together, spread
> across and braced/leaned on
> -The swimmer pulls themselves onto the foredeck (deck clutter is way bad here)
> perpendicular to the boat, torso balanced on the deck
> -The rescuer now has a firm handle on the swimmer if necessary
> -A chance to say "what ho" and when all is well, the swimmer flips
> their own boat over (the "curl", like curling weights)
> -Then the swimmer gets into their boat
> -Then this finished up like most, with pumping and sanity checking, and
> all of that.
> 
> Some of the points on this one were:
> -keeping the boat unflipped in rough water, means you won't waste energy
> turing it over just to be swamped by waves
> -the swimmer is in view and more manageable
> 
> Anyway, no one in the class knew this one, so I thought maybe others
> would find it interesting.
> 
> jen
> 
> --
>    Jennifer Joy   SBC Technology Resources          Austin,TX
> jjoy_at_tri.sbc.com     512.372.5517            fax:512.372.5591
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Jen;

I hope you enjoyed your BCU training up here in the Northwest.  It's too
bad I wasn't able to get up to Deception Pass and meet you.  Our new
baby has certainly complicated life.  I suspect you met a number of my
friends though.  We did Star 5 training up at Cape Flattery Wed. and
Thurs. (though I bagged out on Thursday - a cold caught up with me).  We
had a great time.
The Curl rescue you learned is good for rough water and it is
particularly well suited for boats like your Khatsalano S that do not
have bulkheads.
A note about your having trouble getting on your back deck  (This is
something I know a bit about, having managed to gain too much weight as
of late.)  Next time you have a chance try this:
While in the water, grab the deck lines on your rear deck and extend
your arms out and lower your head so that you can float your legs to the
surface.  From this position time your kick and upper body to lurch onto
the back deck.  The tendency is for people to get up close to the boat
and, in preparation for climbing onto the deck, lift their heads as they
put their arms over the deck.  The result of this is that their legs
sink and they are then forced into a vertical position from which it is
really hard to climb up onto the boat, particularly if you are tired or
if you have alot of junk on your deck/vest.  If this is a new idea for
you let me know if it works.
By-the-way, how did you enjoy the BCU training?

John Winskill
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