Re: [Paddlewise] Successful Paddle-Float Re-entry

Hi Su,
    Indeed, the sling around the coaming is quicker and easier, but just for
the record it is a risky manouver with anything other than a plastic boat.
You could pull the coaming right off boats made of other materials.  I think
it is great that you are out there practicing these skills even though you
seem to generally stick with calm water. Next thing you know, you'll be
surfing in that Loon!

Keep on!
Mark

----- Original Message -----
From: Su Penn <supenn_at_voyager.net>
To: <paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net>
Sent: Tuesday, June 29, 1999 8:14 AM
Subject: RE: [Paddlewise] Successful Paddle-Float Re-entry


> Dave Seng wrote:
>
> >  I assume that most people are aware of the technique but you can
> >  also get a piece of rope about 15' long and tie the ends to form
> >  a loop.  Lay the paddle across the deck and through the loop.
> >  Pull the rope under the boat and then wrap it around the shaft
> >  several times to form a stirrup.  Stepping into the stirrup
> >  while the other leg goes over the paddle and paddlfloat will make
> >  it much easier to climb onto the deck without using a lot of
> >  upper body strength.
>
> I used a simpler variation on this trick when I was learning the re-entry
> night before last, and it worked very well for me. My boat, an Old Town
> Loon 138, sits relatively high out of the water. I just put a loop of
> webbing around the coaming of the boat so that it hung down into the water
> to about even with the bottom of the boat. With my left foot on the paddle
> shaft, my right foot in the stirrup, and my hands grabbing the far side of
> the coaming, I was able to lift myself easily onto the boat. My friend
Eli,
> who also learned the re-entry at the same time, was able to do it without
> the stirrup, but then she weighs probably about eighty pounds less than
me,
> has terrific upper body strength for a woman, and was in a boat whose deck
> is lower. On the other hand, the boat she was using had no back deck
> rigging, so she had to hold the paddle to the boat with one hand, and she
> has cerebral palsy, so maybe it all evens out.
>
> People have also responded to my question about how to right your boat
> without getting water in it by making some suggestions about PFDs and by
> telling me to learn to roll. I don't plan to learn to roll anytime soon,
as
> the Loon is not the kind of boat you roll in.
>
> And believe me, I would love to own a better-fitting PFD, but I have tried
> on plenty in different brands and styles and I have the same problem with
> all of them, which is that they are a little too long (maybe because men
> are used as the models?). Every type of PFD I've tried on is too long in
> the body; they all come to slightly _below_ my waist, so that when I
> tighten the waist strap, it's not at my narrowest point, and it wants to
> slide up to my narrowest point. This is true even of brands, like the one
I
> own, that have shoulder straps to adjust the length, and of special
"short"
> PFDs especially designed for kayaking. I might have less trouble with this
> if I were a smaller woman, but I wear an XL PFD and I think they get a
> little longer as they get bigger, whereas I do not get longer no matter
how
> big I get.
>
> I do intend to install a crotch strap on my PFD as the best option
> available to me right now; several people asked, "but how will that work
> with a spray skirt?" Well, in the kind of boat I have and the kind of
> paddling I do, I don't wear a spray skirt unless there's weather, so that
> wouldn't be an issue much of the time. My friend Adrianne, who is an ace
> seamstress, also thinks she might be able to secure the strap inside the
> PFD in such a way that my spray skirt could slide up between the PFD and
> the crotch strap. I'll let you know if that works.
>
> Su Penn
>
>
>
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