Re: [Paddlewise] BCU kayak entry & exit

This thread perked my interest as one of my pet peeves, really,
 is the number of people who don't learn to use a paddle as a brace for
getting in and out of a boat. I can't tell you how many people I"ve seen
flip the wrong way, fall out, stand in the boat and fall over...it just
goes on and on.

This has happened on social paddles and others..

 One whitewater school didn't teach it and I came in as an
instructor on day three, first river day. One poor fellow kept swimming,
then fell in every time he tried to get back in, getting colder by the
minute. He wouldn't listen to a different, more stable way of getting in.

Outfitters use various methods of getting large amounts of people into
boats quickly and then even sliding the boats into the water. 

People with this experience have come into rental shops saying they have
experience, and then flip at the docks (after which videos and other
lessons where made mandatory for all renters).

I think using the paddle behind the seat just the best way to go. It's
so natural for me I don't even think about it anymore. It works
from a dock, in surf, seal landing, adjacent to a beach, in a river 
- I've even used it to get part way out when I couldn't land and
had to go  to the ladies room....and
if the shaft breaks, it should just be replaced by the manufacturer.

My old Dawn Treader by Derek Hutchinson has the old fashioned small
cockpit, and frankly, unless I do a re-enter and roll, there is no way I
can get into it or out of it without the paddle. After finishing the one
race I ever
ran (sea to ski in Bellingham), my friends thought they were doing me a
favor by taking my paddle and throwing it up on the lawn. I was begging
them to help me out of the boat so I could run and ring the gong - but
then of course I discovered that both my legs were asleep. Anyway.

Andree Hurley
On Water Sports  - http://www.onwatersports.com


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