Re: [Paddlewise] Assisted rescue technique

Colin;
I've heard referance to it before but never tried it.  Good description.
I'm teaching a cold water rescue clinic tomorrow so I'll give it a try
and get back to you on it.
John Winskill

Colin Calder wrote:
> 
> Hi All
> 
> A couple of weeks ago I was shown an assisted rescue by a chap called
> Donald Thompson, which I hadn't seen or heard of before. I don't know
> whether anyone other than Donald has developed this rescue, but I was very
> impressed and consider this technique to be the fastest method I've tried
> for emptying a wet exit victim's boat in deep water.
> 
> The rescue is basically a T rescue, deviating from standard at points 4-7:
> 
> 1. Get the victim holding on to your bow toggle.
> 2. Right the victims boat but do not attempt to drain it at this stage.
> 3. Hold the swamped boat's bow toggle and manoeuvre the boat 90º to your own.
> 
> 4. ***This is the clever bit*** If the victims boat is on your right, hold
> the bow toggle firmly in your left hand. Now simply capsize away from the
> swamped boat, holding its bow toggle by your chest, until you are lying
> horizontally on the surface of the water and your boat is ***completely***
> on edge - the momentum of  your body leaning to the water, your boat's hull
> rotation, and the shape of the swamped boats bow lifts the victims boat's
> bow so that it slides effortlessly up and over your kayak, finishing with
> the swamped boats bow by your head and over your boats right hand freeboard
> (or vice versa if you are performing the rescue on your left). The more
> confidently you throw yourself over, the less effort is involved - the
> swamped boat provides tremendous stability.
> 5. With your free right hand rotate the victims boat towards you - its
> cockpit is clear of the water and drains completely.
> 6. Rotate the now empty boat to upright.
> 7. Hip snap up/push the victims bow back to the water. Again this is
> effortless, as the victims boat sliding off does most of the work.
> 
> 8. Swing the victims stern to your bow, raft up and return the victim to
> their boat.
> 
> I tried this rescue with a variety of boats, and was extremely impressed
> with the ease, stability, and speed that it can be performed. It may sound
> complicated, but is very very simple to perform. It will work well with any
> boat with a rear bulkhead (preferably sloping/close to the cockpit), bow
> toggle, and anything but a completely square bow profile (for some
> unfathomable reason Knordkapps seem to have been attracting a bit of abuse
> recently on this list, but trying this out their high rounded bows provided
> the ideal boat shape for this rescue). After about ten minutes practice
> with this technique the sequence 4-6 above become one fluid movement with
> which I could empty a swamped boat in literally about 5 seconds.
> 
> As I see it the advantages with this rescue are:
> 
> You do not need any assistance from the victim, who is always visible to you
> It is blisteringly quick
> It is almost effortless
> It is very stable
> The victims boat does not interfere with any deck mounted equipment you may
> have
> You do not interfere with any deck mounted equipment the victim may have
> Very simple to learn and perform
> 
> Hope this is of interest/understandable - If you haven't tried this rescue
> I can not recommend it more highly.
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Colin Calder
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