[Paddlewise] into the fray

My internet server, Netcom, was on the blink regarding email for the
last 24 hours or so.  And so, I didn't get the stream of discussion
regarding rolling, paddlefloats, et al until this morning in one lump
sum.  Very enlightening to see it all at once as it lets you step back
to see the forest not just the trees.

If I recall, I think this all started with the beginning of a discussion
of Lone Malden's death in Greenland that was narrated by her paddling
mate in the most recent issue of Sea Kayaker.  And perhaps we should
address that.

For my 2 cents, when I heard that she did not know how to roll and that
she regularly choose to paddle hundreds of yards away from her companion
in those waters, I was dumbfounded.  I don't roll, and that may make me
lesser of a paddler than some of you (I say "some" because a good 80% of
sea kayakers do not know how to roll at all or certainly not in any
reliable way), but I would never have chosen to do the type of paddling
that she did, where she did, in her kind of kayak without something
approaching a bombproof roll.  Out of her boat, in the waters she
regularly paddled, self-rescue would always be dicey at best.

I made a choice quite awhile ago to get into a class of boat which do
not roll easily nor do they need to...folding kayaks.  That is a
generalization about them as a breed.  Some of them can be rolled
readily...the Feathercraft Khatsalano comes to mind (and so can the
K-Light and K-1).  But the others cannot be reliably rolled.  Klepper
singles have been rolled but more of a circus act in a pool or off of a
calm beach, i.e. not a reliable self-rescue technique in open water.

Folding kayaks, such as Kleppers, have quite reliably been paddled in
rough conditions all over the world without capsizing.  Where they have
tipped over generally has been when under sail, which is a tricky thing
under certain conditions such as near headlands, where wind gusts catch
the top of the Klepper gaff-rigged S-4 sail and tip the boat.  It does
take a lot to capsize one while paddling.  It happens rarely.  The only
time a folding kayak has gone over on me while paddling was when I got
caught in a strainer and the rushing water caught the upstream side of
my deck and flipped me (in that situation, a strainer, a roll would not
have worked in any kayak).  Oh, I saw one go over on the PBS Trailwise
show of the round Manhattan circumnavigation.  The host was in a single
Klepper and was in the whirlpools that temporarily form around Hell Gate
at certain tidal cycle times.  His paddle got caught by the swirly water
and he tried to hang on to it figuring his big muscles would win out
(score: water dynamics 1, big muscles zero).

If I had stayed with hardshells, which was my intention when I started
paddling, I would have worked my darnest to get a reliable roll and to
practice it regularly, which is the only sensible thing to do in certain
kinds of boats.  Once I went to a kind of boat that rolling was not much
of a self-rescue option, the incentive to learn was gone.  I have
dabbled at it every half dozen years but never really pushed it.  It
ain't witchcraft or voodoo, it can be learned.  And it is fun as some
people have pointed out.

Let's see if I can summarize regarding hardshells.  I have no stake in
this one way or another as I don't paddle them, so no particular axe to
grind on the roll vs. other rescue techniques:

1.  If your intention is to go out into the ocean in a hardshell and
play in surf, you must develop a good roll in the process.  To do
anything less is foolhardy.

What Lone did in Greenland was unwise considering the conditions she
would be in fairly constantly.  She had tons of rescue and safety gear
such as EPIRB, VHF radio, flares, paddlefloat, etc. but not the internal
thing she really needed to save herself, i.e. an ability to stay in her
boat and either roll it up or hang in there in a storm scull until she
could get her wits about her or into better waters.  And, again, she was
paddling so far away from her paddlemate that he could not do a thing
for her, albeit it seems he probably didn't know much about assisted
rescues in rough conditions either, or I could be wrong.

2.  Whatever you do regarding rolling, do get a reentry and roll down
pat, especially if your ordinary roll is not absolutely reliable.  Help
yourself along by having either a rigid foam float or a partially
inflated one ready.  And it is absolutely best that you do so in a way
that you connect your skirt before rolling up in order to keep water
out.
When I was looking into hardshells and the renter and roll technique
back then it was always taught and practiced in this way. i.e. attach
skirt under water.  I was fairly shocked to see in Sea Kayaker a year or
two ago that Nigel Foster was showing it without that step, which will
definitely scoop up a cockpit full of water.  If you are using this
rescue method, it might as well be "in for a penny, in for a sixpence."

3.  Paddlefloats and pumps are only as good as the paddler and his/her
practice with them.  Sounds like a cliche, but I can't begin to count
the number of paddlers of hardshells that I have run across who
dutifully carry them and have never practiced using them at all.  I
guess they think, like in having a jack and spare tire in your car
trunk, you can just deal with them when the emergency comes and you can
read the owner's manual etc.  I know this is a hard point to argue
especially in this illustrious company of Paddlewise, which is already a
semi-select group because it is at least interested in such subjects as
this, but really, most paddlers with pumps and floats on their back
decks have never used them even in practice.  I think this underscores
John Winters point about blind faith in gear, especially among the
unitiated; hell that's more than blind faith, it is expecting a miracle
to save you.

ralph diaz      

     
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Ralph Diaz . . . Folding Kayaker newsletter
PO Box 0754, New York, NY 10024
Tel: 212-724-5069; E-mail: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com
"Where's your sea kayak?"----"It's in the bag."
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