Re: [Paddlewise] Landing a victim through surf

Julio,
My intial reaction to your scenario is how long are the lines that you
typically carry? I use a 50 foot line for towing, which is a good
length for this purpose. I do not carry anything longer. With two 50 foot
lines, then chances are that the two rescuers in your proposed solution
would also be in the surf, which would make it rather impossible for the
rescuers to do anything but watch out for their own necks.

Even if the lines were long enough to permit the rescuers to stay outside
of the surf zone, I think it would folly of the highest degree to attempt
to hold on to a rope which is also attached to a sea kayak being surfed by
a wave. Can you imagine the forces? Worst case scenario is having your arm
ripped out of your socket.

One possible solution to this scenario would be to use a sea anchor or
drogue to keep the paddle facing perpindicular to the waves while he is
backing in towards shore. I personally would not want to take the pounding
that this would produce in dumping surf, but it might be better than
having the hypotherminc person swim to shore. Of course, given your
scenario, a swim is probably likely in any case. This person is probably
in big trouble.

Of course, the cop-out answer to your scenario is simply "don't get into
this situation in the first place". I would be quite careful of taking
anyonewith questionable skills into an area with dumping surf.

Hope this helps,
Kevin


	 ___________________                                                            
	/   Kevin Whilden   \
       |Dept. of Geosciences \___
       |University of Washington \
       |kwhilden_at_u.washington.edu| 
        \________________________/                       

On Thu, 5 Nov 1998, Julio MacWilliams wrote:

> Scenario: 
> 
> The victim is hypothermic after capsizing several times
> in his brand new tipy boat. He should not have joined the trip with
> his level of skill. But now, it is the group's mission to land the
> victim to safety through dumping surf.
> 
> The best thing to do is to turn on the radio and call the Coast Guard
> so that they come and take the victim in their boat.
> BUT, let us assume that any help is outside of radio range, and the only
> option left is landing the victim ASAP.  
> 
> What would you do? (not a rethoric question, I really want to know
> your ideas)
> 
> 
> My aproach would be to tie a line to the stern of the victim's kayak
> and send a good paddler with the other end to the beach. Then I would
> tie another long line to the bow of the victim.
> 
>  rescuer at sea---line---~~~victim in surf~~~---line---rescuer in beach
> 
> The job of the rescuer at sea is to keep the victim's kayak perpendicular
> to the waves. The job of the rescuer on the beach is to watch for the
> right set of waves to pull the victim to the beach.
> 
> If the victim can not brace, then I might be possible to do the same
> thing without the kayak, but giving the victim additional flotation
> to hang on to. However, the victim is already hypothermic.
> 
> 
> I know this scenario is one of those without a good solution, that
> is why I am presenting it to the safety conscious people in this list.
> 
> Comments, please?
> 
> - Julio
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