Wayne; Several people requested to know how I structure the beginning and advanced rescue clinics I have done. It will probably take several posts so please bear with me. Before I go any further into how I structure the class, I feel it is necessary to talk a little bit about the state of self rescue in the States, (or at least on the West Coast). Here in the states the paddle-float self rescue is considered the rescue of choice for the beginning paddler and that notion is very firmly entrenched. This is both good and bad. I feel it is good because it is easily learned and does give paddlers a servicable rescue that will work in a variety of instances. I do feel though, that a climate has been created in which the paddle-float rescue is felt to be all that paddlers need learn and that the eskimo roll is an advanced rescue that few can or should learn. The problem with the paddle-float rescue is that, although many people know about the rescue, only a small percentage of them have actually done one in cold water and a much smaller percentage have done one in reasonably rough water. They end up paddling, and making judgement calls on where and when they will paddle, believing they are capable of saving themselves in the event of a capsize. I have seen over and over again what happens the first time students, who have practiced rescues in the pool, attempt a rescue in cold water. Almost without exception, everything they learned goes out the window and some of what you see can be very amusing - only because it is not a life and death situation. I and some of my friends are working hard in our area the de-mystify the roll. I am convinced that it should really be considered one of the basic skills and that the paddlefloat should really be a back-up to a failed re-enter and roll. What we are doing here, in this area, is teaching the beginning and advanced rescue clinics without the roll (although it is shown a number of times during the clinic as a counterpoint to all the struggling that the students are doing) and then, after the students have begun to develop a reasonable feel about how and when the paddlefloat rescue might be effective, we encourage them to go to the next step of learning the roll. I am glad to say that we are finally beginning to see some fruit for our labor. Now that I've got that off my mind, I'll try in the next few days to outline the rescue clinics themselves. John Winskill *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
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