Re: [Paddlewise] Dry Suit Field Test

That was a great report and its brought up a couple of questions that I
would like to post to the group.

> Water temperature:
>      Curiosity 
>I put my
>hands in the water and started paddling myself around.  That lasted 5-10
>seconds before the pain made me get my hands out of the water.  How cold
>does that make the water?

Given what you say above, do you think numb hands and the tight cross deck
bungie aft of the cockpit prevented you from slipping the paddle underneath
for use as an outrigger?
Do you think hard line, with sufficient room for the paddle, would work
better?

I agree with Ralph. If you can't trust bungie to hold your gear in place on
your boat, why would you ever trust it to rescue yourself back into your boat.

>I'm in a hurry now and haphazardly throw the paddle up on the aft deck
>behind the cockpit coaming and try to hook my foot over the float.  For some
>reason the float is sinking and then I realize I haven't attempted to pull
>myself up over the cockpit and my full weight is on it.  I finally hoist
>myself up on the aft deck on my stomach and get my feet in the cockpit.

>I know I'm supposed to have one hand on the paddle and maintain constant
>pressure on it to maintain balance as I turn over.  But something's wrong
>with the paddle set up and as I squirm around to find and fix it I go over
>the other side.

Were you rescuing yourself from the stern side of the paddle, or the
cockpit side?

The reason that I ask is that after checking out Matt's web site, I have
found that using the paddle as an outrigger (secured to the boat), that
rescuing from the cockpit side is much quicker. Tried it with some friends
and found that I could be in the boat in an upright position in 5 secs.
Never have to put your legs on the paddle.
I have not tried this without securing the paddle to boat yet. Given that
situation I still come up from behind the paddle and transfer leg and body
weight across the paddle until I'm in the boat.


Jeff Bingham/FLL




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