[Paddlewise] Self Rescue Practicein Kleppers

Some Notes on Klepper Self Rescue Practice - Peter Rattenbury and Peter
Osman

Here are some notes on our attempts to practise self rescue techniques in
realistic conditions. The boats were both expedition Klepper Aerius singles.
One kayaker had 3 years, the other 1 years experience. We arranged for a
small motor boat to be nearby in case of difficulty and told the coast guard
what we were up to. Safety equipment was a VHF maritime radio, EPIRB, paddle
float reentry system, spare paddles, flotation bags, sponges, electric pumps
and a collapsible bailing bucket. PFD's. wetsuits and cags were worn. On the
day the wind was about 10knots, the swell was 2m and there was a slight chop
on the swell. 

Whistle tests
	We tried two tin whistles and a Fox whistle by blowing into the
wind. The Fox whistle was the best, being audible to about 300m, which
coincided with the limit of visibility for sighting another kayak in a 2m
swell (photo available). This also was about as far as we could reliably see
the motor boat. There are whistles and whistles!

Towing tests
	Two kinds of tether were tried, one in a bag and one on a reel. The
reason for the reel was to try a system, which allowed the tether to
lengthen or shorten as need/conditions arise. For example, towing a seasick
paddler on a long rope could be risky. A short tether would allow the sick
paddler to more easily alert the tower. However, this first version of the
reel tether tangled much more than the one in a bag. It should be possible
to get it to work easily, but a fair bit of redesign is needed. The bag
system worked well but would have been better with Velcro patches to store
the ends of the tow line on the outside of the bag. Another improvement
would have been to attach the bag to the towee end of the line so as not to
keep losing the bag overboard! We concluded that tow ropes need to be simple
and opined that any style of rudder system was likely to cause a problem
with tangles. 
	Two kinds of anchor point for the tether were tried, one at the side
of the cockpit and one on a dive belt around the waist. Both worked fine.The
tether fastened to the waist belt had about a metre of bungee cord attached
between two loops in the line spaced at 2m. There was no sensation of
tugging during any of the tows - this system of shock absorption worked
well.
	We each estimated that more than one hours towing would probably
seriously drain our energy reserves

Self Rescue
	The self-rescue we practised was the 'cowboy' method. i.e sit
astride the stern, inch forward and then enter the cockpit. (Ref Folding
Kayaker June 99 issue) The stern of the Aerius Klepper 1 rides low in the
water (photo available) and is consequently easy to mount, even with a
rudder fitted. One Klepper had a tuck under spray deck with a detachable
small opening skirt, the other had a one piece spray deck/skirt attached to
the cockpit via Velcro. I've heard various criticisms of this spray deck
along the lines that it tends to leak (it does) that it will not stand up to
heavy waves (haven't found any waves heavy enough to detach it yet but
haven't been out in really rough water). 
	The spray deck with the detachable small opening skirt required that
the feet be placed in the cockpit before the backside. Consequently the
centre of gravity was high throughout the reentry and combined with the
swell this made self rescue difficult. On the first occasion it worked first
time, on the 2nd occasion it worked after 3 attempts, on the 3rd occasion it
worked after 6 attempts but left the kayaker nauseous and tired. 
	With the one piece spray deck/skirt it was possible to move forward,
drop backside into the cockpit and then pull in the legs, maintaining a low
centre of gravity throughout. It worked first time, was straightforward and
it would be hard to imagine a faster self rescue method, other than a
successful 1st attempt roll. With both spray decks the first attempts at
reentry were seriously encumbered by material on the rear of the kayak. In
one kayak there was netting, which entangled in a whistle, in the other
kayak there was a foam paddle float. While neither of these prevented the
self-rescue they slowed us down to an unacceptable level and would have been
a real nuisance in a heavy sea.

Personal tethers
	One of our goals was to try out a personal tether (a plastic coiled
surfboard leash). It was attached at the cord end to the center top of the
rib behind the seat and via a Velcro band to my wrist. The wrist attachment
seemed to provide maximum manoeuvrability for minimum leash length (minimum
risk of entanglement). It took practice to quickly remove the band and this
would have been easier if tags were attached to locate the edges. There were
no problems with entanglement on wet exiting but there was some difficulty
flipping the kayak upright. Normally I lean over the hull of the overturned
boat and flip it toward me. With a personal tether it was necessary to flip
the kayak upright by pushing it from the side nearest me. Forgot until too
late that it was necessary to reach right under the boat to the other side
of the cockpit to achieve this. (Should have read Ralph's postings more
carefully). Came out of this exercise convinced that a carefully designed
system of personal tethering would not tangle or cause problems and that a
bit more practice was all that was needed. 

Nausea
	The motor boat skipper and one of us became slightly seasick (for
the 1st time in 20 years) after repeated self-rescue attempts. It was an eye
opener to experience how debilitating even mild sea-sickness is, how quickly
balance is destroyed. The paddlefloat would be really useful when alone and
seasick. Extra sponsons even better. Comparing notes with other seasick
paddlers it seems that the common denominators were a big swell and a fair
chop; stopping to drift and getting knocked around; and fiddling with gear.
Anyone who paddles with us and gets seasick will get lots of empathy! 

Final observations and questions
	The amount of water taken on during this training wasn't excessive
and tended to stabilise the boat, because of the sponsons. The electric
water pumps worked very well. Clearly more self-rescue training is needed,
preferable in heavier seas. In particular we need to try paddle float
re-entries under the same circumstances. We also want to try the assisted
rescue where the rescuer lifts the upside down kayak on his deck and the
rescuee assists by clinging to the stern of the boat.  The boat is
supposedly drained and the rescuee is assisted back. We don't know if this
will work with a high volume boat like the Klepper because of the weight of
water? Any opinions out there? Another big question - would the one piece
spray deck be adequate in seas that could tip a Klepper single over? If so
then combining this spray deck with the cowboy self rescue method seems to
provide a very fast, straight forward rescue - comments from more
experienced paddlers would be greatly appreciated. The safety precautions
seemed adequate - I wonder what we missed! Finally the exercise reinforced
the necessity for us to continue to practice rescue techniques in the
conditions which put us at risk.

Peter's O & R
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