RE: [Paddlewise] Kayakers helping others

Kayaks actually work quite well for doing rescue tows of larger boats, the
only headache (other than it's slow work) is that with the bigger boats you
need to plan how you're going to get out of the way before you start towing
(and keep in mind that once you get a larger vessel moving they'll tend to
steer you from behind) - I probably tow 3-5 boats - usually motor boats - a
year back to a dock or an anchorage, the biggest was a 38 foot wooden
sailboat in Salmon Bay on Lake Union in Seattle and the weirdest was giving
a sailor a ride to shore on the back deck of my kayak off of Orcas Island to
land at Doe Bay (The sailor was a large woman, and I asked her to sit on the
deck with her feet on the water, but she stood up instead - talk about
feeling tippy). The dumbest I did was towing a sailboat back to the nearset
boat launch and forgetting that the bridge we had to go under was too low,
something about the mast hitting the bridge not helping things. The fun part
with rescueing larger boats is that it not only gets them to the point of
thinking of kayaks as something more then annoying toys that get in their
way, but also the psychological games you can play since they don't believe
you can actually move their boat, you tend to get incredible cheering from
the kids while dad is saying it can't be done.

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net
[mailto:owner-paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net]On Behalf Of Robert C.
Cline
Sent: Thursday, May 04, 2000 3:23 PM
To: PaddleWise_at_lists.intelenet.net
Cc: Doug Lloyd
Subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Kayakers helping others


>> From: Mr Doug Lloyd <dlloyd_at_telus.net>
> SNIP The report
>> the other day about the kayaker rescuing a swimmer has given me a
>> positive focus amidst the negativity of accident investigation work. I
>> just can't let go of that positive affirmation indicated through the
>> Kelowna lake incident that John posted. There must be some other good
>> stories out there about paddlers who have serendipitously come along to
>> aid some stricken soul. How about sharing some more positives? Please
>> feed Dougie.
> SNIP
>


About two years ago, my wife and I were in a park in Seattle along the
coast. I don't remember the name of the park, but the coastline had high
rocky cliffs.  As my wife and I were watching the water, we observed a small
motor boat that had engine failure and the boat with several passengers was
drifting toward the rocky coastline.  I told my wife to stay and watch while
I went to find a phone to call the coast guard.

While I was away making the phone call,  two maybe three? kayakers came to
assist the disabled vessel.  The kayakers were setting up to tow him by the
time I returned.

As I recall, another small motor boat observed the activity and provided the
tow that actually towed the disabled boat to the nearby marina.

The boat got assistance before it ended up on the rocks... and before the
coast guard arrived.

Robert


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