[Paddlewise] Spotting kayaks from the air and group control

Last week we had our sea symposium in Jersey Channel Isles. A group of 22
paddlers did a 12 nautical mile crossing to Sark which was just great.
Despite the 37 foot tide and 3.5 knot streams it surprised me just how many
did not have really decent compas units on the boats. Still I guess they do
not usually padle these conditions like we do over here.
Anyway, A pal of mine who also paddles was up in his plane looking for us
on the return trip to get some pics. He also is a kayaker and knew the
route we we would be taking back. Yet from the air in spite of all this
knowledge and info he said it was really hard to spot us despite the large
group and knowledge he had. It certainly makes one think about the
advantages of using dye markers in the water if you know an air search has
been started for you in order to be spotted.
It also makes you think about just how visible we are from the bridge of
large ships-that is assuming they are not all relying on the radar and
other electronic aids to 'see' by.

On a different note we split the group in two after half an hour consisting
of the fast paddlers and slower ones. This worked wel as it ment people had
already began to split into a rough difference in paddling speeds. Not
perfect, but better than being a big group with all the stress of group
control and a stiff neck. In the past i have sorted out the group on land
but this was a much better way so long as you made it clear that we would
be doing this after 30 minutes and people were expected to stop. It worked
well as we were on the same heading and there was only about 15 minutes
between us in the end. What made life a lot easier was that we had radio
communication betwen both groups. Very handy when one group came across a
few puffins en route! Having a radio link on an intership channel was just
great within the group. It alowed the front and back leaders in each group
to tell each other what was going on and more importantly to tell the front
paddler to slow down instead of having to try and catch up and then shout
loudly. Sometimes technology is very good. It does however remove the
excuse upon landing that you need to sink a load of beer to stop your
throat hurting so much.
Maintaining group control was hardest once we hit the restaurant.....but
thats another story.
cheers
Derek.
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