[Paddlewise] Paddle-Float Rescues (was supplies)

    I wrote:

    >>Unfortunately, this is also how the ACA teaches it. To all the people
who
    don't fasten the paddle to the deck I ask: how did you get the water out
of
    the kayak? Nobody ever seems to talk about what is often the most
difficult
    part of this rescue, which is pumping the kayak out after getting back
in
    with all the free water destabilizing you and increasing the odds of a
    recapsize. Do you have an electric pump? Can you empty the kayak before
    getting in? With a gear load? Or didn't you bother practicing that part
in
    rough water? Many people never do finish the rescue because pumping out
a
    lot of water is hard work even on calm water.<<


  Jan or Roger answered:

  >To answer the question, "How do you get the water out of the kayak?"
    >We use a hand held bilge pump.
>But I think you were really asking about
>paddle management. What do you do with the paddle while you are pumping?

Not necessarily I wouldn't want to put unneccessary limits on the solution,
my question is how do you stay upright with the kayak full of free water
while using two hands to reattach the spraydeck and pump out (this probably
will have something to do with what you do with your paddle, but not
necessarily).

>We advocate that people finish the paddlefloat rescue
>with their paddleshaft across their laps, pinning the paddleshaft against
>the cockpit coaming with your elbows or try using the bottom of your PFD or
>rib cage or stomach by hunching over a little. To get the paddle into this
>position,
>lift the side of the paddle without the paddlefloat on it over your head
>quickly. Using the paddlefloat for support while you do this, you will be a
>little like the hinge on a kickstand. Some people like having their paddle
>where they can pick it up and use it.

My experience is that it is difficult to reattach the spraydeck (usually a
two hand job) while trying to hold the paddle down across the cockpit (and
in your way fastening the deck too) with ones elbows or hunched over the
paddle. And this was in a swimming pool. The reason you might want to
reattach the spraydeck is that if you don't do it in rough seas you may find
you take on water through the open cockpit faster than you can pump it out.
Even if this extra water to pump would just add a minute to your pumping
time I'd want the spraydeck on.
Without the spraydeck on I could hold the paddle down against the cockpit
with one hand and my elbow (holding the pump and paddle in the same hand and
pumping with the other) but this required careful attention to the position
of the paddle at all times (and it is much more difficult to keep the paddle
perpendicular the  kayak when waves are moving the float and kayak around).
Also the waves lifting the float make it difficult to keep it pinned in
place with ones elbow while pumping. Too many things to try to stay on top
of at once. Not to mention the very limited and constricted pumping
position. Imagine trying to hold the paddle down and pump out through the
waist hole of your spraydeck.
With the paddle slipped under some decklines (with one line hooked over the
drip ring to keep it from sliding out--or pushed further through and turned
1/4 turn to key it in place) and leaning your body a little to the float
side one can concentrate on hard pumping and can switch pumping hands and
pump angle or pump pickup location at will. No fighting to try to control
the paddle at the same time as you do the hard and time consuming work of
pumping out. Of course if you use an electric pump I don't see much
advantage to fixing the paddle to the deck.

>We've tried it both ways. Even with
>specially designed quick release straps for the paddlefloat rescue, we find
>it more difficult to maintain the outrigger position of the paddlefloat
>while climbing back in and challenging to get the paddle out of the
>straps while seated, facing forward and away from the hardware, especially
>in rough water. Not using straps or bungies saves a step and so is more
>efficient it is also more
>universal for paddlers who might not have their own kayak and paddle yet.
>Not all kayaks, especially rentals, are equipped with rear deck bungies.
>Some
>of the bungie set ups have narrow configurations that won't work with
>paddles with
>wide blades.

I am not arguing that the rescue method without fixing the paddle shouldn't
be taught. It should be, in fact I explain it in the instructions to the
"Mariner Rescue Float Plus"  (see directions in the manuals pickbox of
www.marinerkayaks.com under "Rescue Float"). In several other posts on this
subject recently Roger, Jed and others talked about the back-up aspect of
knowing multiple rescues and carrying a paddlefloat. In that light I don't
see why the ACA wouldn't also want to show their students the fixed
outrigger method of self rescue and have them try it for themselves during
their rough water training. Maybe there will be a condition where it will
work for somebody when other rescues don't or have failed. Certainly if the
kayak you find yourself in doesn't have any way to fasten the paddle the
unfastened method will probably work. Also one would not want to fasten the
paddle to the kayak in surf so the unfastened method should be learned as
well.
Getting the paddle out to paddle again is a critical step (although it has
never been a problem for me so I can't understand why someone taught how to
do it correctly would have a problem here. If they do a little instruction
and practice should make it routine. Of course if the instructor doesn't
mention it or says it won't work his students will most likely never bother
trying it, possibly to their detriment.
Here is how I remove the paddle:
Once pumped out and ready, I find it a simple matter to lift the cord to the
other side of the drip ring to free it and then rock the kayak a bit so I am
no longer pressing it down into the water. When I'm sure the paddle is free
and I am in balance I push the paddle straight out from under the cords with
one hand and bring it right back across my lap. Within about one second it
is ready to use again for bracing. I don't have to look back and I have
never capsized doing this in practice. I can't see why others doing it this
way would have a problem either, at least once they learn to do it
correctly. No one I have taught has had any trouble here, that I know of
anyhow. I'll also hazard the guess that doing this is at least as easy and
secure as lifting the non-float end of the paddle over your head from a
starting position behind your back. Probably a lot quicker (shorter period
of vulnerability) too.

>If the rigging does accommodate wide blades, it is often too loose on
narrow
>touring paddles.

A little freedom here doesn't hurt much as long as the paddle float is kept
reasonably out to the side it can move around a bit, just make sure it can't
easily slide out. Bungees are usually the problem when the paddle is too
loosely fastened. Cord usually works better (or at least double up on the
bungee cord or use stiff bungees.)
If the fastening is too loose I don't see how holding it with your hand
would be any harder than having it unfixed and holding it with your hand as
the ACA has advocated. In other words, criticism about the paddle being held
too loose cuts both ways since "loose" may well still be better than not
held in place at all.

>We do have people practice this method of grasping their paddle shaft
firmly
>against the cockpit coaming, in flatwater to start, in the tidal
>rips off Yellow Bluff in San Francisco Bay, and on the open coast of the
>Pacific, throughout our series of classes over the past 10 years. Hundreds
>have made it work. We
>use
>the Mariner paddlefloats and in the beginning classes, explain that they
are
>the best on the market because they are sturdy and have plenty of
>floatation. With this gear and the technique we teach, we have found that
>using deck rigging is a superfluous extra step for the majority of our
>students.

Again what if it doesn't work as well for someone, why not teach both
methods and let the students decide which they want to try first. Fixing the
paddle to the deck makes the longest, most vulnerable part of this rescue
quite easy (easy except for the pumping which never seems easy--and as a
result I suspect this stage doesn't get practiced that much).
While the reenter and roll can work it is much harder than a straight roll
in the first place. A paddlefloat can make a R & R much easier (but is an
extra step). The Reenter and Roll still scoops up more water than righting
the kayak before climbing in. It has the same problem of trying to stay
upright while trying to pump out and fastening the spraydeck (as not fixing
the paddle to the deck has).
My recomendations to a solo paddler upon capsize would be:
1.Eskimo Roll
2.Float roll (float aided hand roll--if a float is quickly available)

Once they have bailed out of the cockpit:
3.Outrigger Paddle Float
4.Hand held paddle float
5.Reenter and roll with paddlefloat
6.Reenter and roll w/o paddlefloat
7.Cowboy scramble (climb in over stern straddling the kayak face down and,
with a big enough cockpit, drop in butt first) (Note: a paddle-float could
help stabilize this entry--and it wouldn't have to be lifted over your head
from the back deck afterward either--Roger gave good instructions for this
in Sea Kayaker).
8.Paddle-wing (no float--usually fixed outrigger--works best with
unfeathered paddle)(probably similar to Robert Cline saw demonstrated hand
held by Scott from the BCU)

Sponsons should probably be somewhere in the above list but I find it
difficult to figure out exactly where (in the present form it takes a lot
longer to set them up and get oneself out of the water than with others
rescues--however, once back up they provide some stability to the swamped
kayak to aid in pumping and fastening the spraydeck and they can be left in
place to paddle again by someone at serious risk of another capsize, but at
a much reduced speed.) Therefore, I would rate them higher in warmer water
than in cold. Obviously for somebody who doesn't yet know how to roll they
would be above reenter and rolls.

Matt Broze
http://www.marinerkayaks.com


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