Greg; Learning to put your sprayskirt on while under water just takes practice. It is not easy, but it can be done. The big trick in doing something like this is to relax, and one of the big tricks in learning to relax requres that you have complete and utter confidence in your roll. Try this: Next time you are in the pool, sit in your boat right-side-up and relax. Take several deep breaths and, while still above water, put on your sprayskirt as you hold your breath. I suspect you will find that you can do so without any real difficulty. Putting on your sprayskirt while under water is just the same except that you must combat panic which will shorten your ability to hold your breath. Force yourself to remain calm and take your time as you make certain that your skirt is placed on properly from start to finish then simply roll up. One of the steps in learning to have a solid combat roll is coming to the realization that rolling a kayak in a combat situation is exactly like rolling a boat in the pool. It's a mind-over-matter thing. Putting your sprayskirt on under water is the same thing. It is also the only technique that I have ever been able to use to get my skirt back on solo in rough seas while not using a paddlefloat. Actually, I find it much easier than messing with a paddlefloat in rough water. There has been alot of discussion about paddlefloats lately but I have seen little or no discussion about how hard they are to use in reality in nasty conditions. First of all, as someone mentioned in the last few days, holding onto your boat with your elbow or leg when the wind is blowing and the waves (and more importantly the whitecaps) are shoving your boat around is very very very difficult. Added to this is the fact that you are trying to manipulate the paddlefloat ie. you have to get it from wherever it is, you have to keep from getting tangled in the line that tethers it to your boat, you need to fit it on the end of your paddle, you need to secure it to your paddle and then do you have to inflate the stinking thing while the seas are trying to rip your paddle and boat away from you. Now you are ready to do a re-enter and paddlefloat roll (or worse a paddlefloat self rescue). [A good re-enter and roll would have bypassed this entire hassle.] Next, you roll up and you now have to figure how you are going to get your sprayskirt onto this bucking bronco of a boat with cold and panicky hands while you support yourself with first one hand and/or elbow and then the other as you put your sprayskirt on (a move that you will most often have just then discovered is blocked by your paddle shaft laying across the cockpit coaming). [[BTW, if you have done a standard paddlefloat rescue where the paddlefloat is attached to the boat you have discovered that only a very small minority of paddle attachment systems actually work in rough conditions. The paddle will not, in the great great majority of situations, be sticking out at a nice 90 degree angle but the system will, in fact, have long since failed adding considerably to your difficulties. All this, not to mention the considerable problem of getting your paddle unsecured and off of your back deck, over your head and back into position, all in conditions that not long ago knocked you over while you were still warm and had the paddle in both hands. But, once again I digress.]] OK, so now hopefully you have your sprayskirt back on and you can begin the arduous task of emptying your boat while keeping upright. If you have a footpump or electric pump this isn't too bad. If you do not you are in for another lousy and exhausting job as you have to wrestle getting your pump through your sprayskirt and then pump out your boat while trying to hold onto your paddle and paddlefloat for support while still needing both hands to operate the pump. Keep in mind that you are still on a "bucking bronco". OK, so finally your boat is empty, you are cold and utterly exhausted and now all you have to do is remove and stow the paddlefloat from off your paddle. This simple task is much harder than you might imagine particularly if you keep in mind that earlier, while you were still warm and had the paddle in both hands, you fell over. You shift your hands only a bit up the paddleshaft les you lose your support and you then reach for the paddlefloat and begin pulling on it just as another wave hits you and, of course, you fall in again. Now, compare this to a re-enter and roll not using a paddlefloat. Time required to re-enter and roll from the time you bail out of your boat: 15 seconds Time to settle down, take a few deep breaths and compose yourself: 30 seconds Re-attaching your sprayskirt while under water: 10 to 30 seconds Emptying your boat with a footpump or electric pump while using your padde in the normal fashion to brace yourself: 3 to 5 minutes. The additional practice to master putting your sprayskirt on while under water is very worth it. John Winskill Greg Hollingsworth wrote: > > > Try putting your sprayskirt on under water. Re-enter and roll up, catch > > your breath, relax, and roll back over then slip it on and roll back > > up. It really isn't that hard if you can relax and have confidence in > > being able to easily roll back up. To make this really effective > > however, you would do best to have a footfpump or an electric pump. > > I had the same concern about the sprayskirt in a discussion a few weeks > ago and this suggestion came up back then. > > The next session I had at the pool, I gave it a try both with and > without gloves... This is _no_ simple procedure under controlled > conditions without neoprene gloves. With gloves, it was nearly > impossible. I can only imagine that waves and cloudy water would make it > more difficult. > > Perhaps with a lot of practice, it might work for you... for me, it's > not something I intend to incorporate into my bag of "save my tail" > techniques unless someone can share the secret in getting the spray > skirt back on before I require air. Perhaps I need to look into that > breathing tube technique to go along with this technique. > > Greg *************************************************************************** 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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