Re: [Paddlewise] landing a victim through surf

I have done this scuba diving.
I once had the surf go from 1-3' to 8-12' in the 2 hours my buddy and I
were 
in the water (shallow dive and we were both low air consumption divers).
Just as we surfaced, my buddy had major cramps in both legs.
I had my buddy put his mask around his neck and regulator in his mouth.
I then grabbed the back of his BC (bouyancy compensator) collar and towed
him in.

It was extreamly brutal.
I kept kicking, screaming, crawling, etc., untill we were both on DRY
sand.

I was spent and my buddy was freaked out!
If my buddy had lost the regulator or run out of air, then I might have
had
an unconscious or nonbreathing (possible full arest) victim on the beach
and
I did not have anything left to even be able to think of doing effective
CPR.

Each case will have to de decided individually, but if the surf is really
bad
and the victim is more than slightly hypothermic, I would radio for rescue
and
wait outside the surf zone.
Better to wait for the Coast Guard with a hypothermic person than to have
a 
person in full arest, hypothermic, trashed by the surf, surounded by
exhausted
friends on the beach,,,, and still needing rescue by professionals.

There are no easy answers, and every situation is different.
The only thing that is certain is that the survivors (if any) will have to
live
with the outcome, good or bad.

Nobody (that I know) has ever said that going to sea was safe.

michael

dlv_at_gate.net wrote:
> 
> If you were faced with really terrible surf to enter, your best way in would
> be with a good mask, fins and snorkel---I'm not saying it would always be
> fun, but 12 footers are not much challenge in this manner---and this is easy
> to store as emergency or fun to use type gear.  As fas as dragging a nearly
> unconscious person wth you, I'd do this with mask and fins LONG before I'd
> try it on a kayak.
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