[Paddlewise] Successful Paddle-Float Re-entry

Yesterday my partner David, our friend Eli, and I, all relative beginners,
took our boats out in a quiet lake and practiced paddle-float re-entries
for the first time. We knew the theory, but it took a lot of trial and
error before Eli and I were able to successfully perform re-entries. David
was too pooped from towing us back to shore and helping us empty swamped
boats after failures to try re-entries for himself.

Anyway, I am just so excited to have begun to add this trick to my
reportoire that I wanted to share it with the list. The three of us feel
that in our 2 1/2 hours playing in the water yesterday, we significantly
advanced our skills and our knowledge about what our boats can do and what
we can do.

We also developed a small shopping list of gear it would be nice--no, make
that essential--to have (who ever said paddle leashes were optional? None
of us was able to right a flipped boat one-handed while holding onto a
paddle with the other hand, and would surely have lost paddles if we'd been
in current or waves--I'm sure this is not news to most of you), and I found
that my PFD is worse than useless and won't be any better unless I install
a crotch strap to keep it from riding up. It's good to learn these things
on a quiet inland lake 20 yards from shore on a warm and sunny day!

We're all eager to get out in the water again to practice some more.

Here's a question: Any tips for righting an upside-down boat without taking
on water--or tips for minimizing the water taken on? We found that we
always took on what seemed like a significant amount of water when righting
our boats, and that was on a glassy surface.

Thanks,

Su Penn


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