Robert, you said: <<Scott: Have you also been successful in teaching people to doing a paddlefloat rescue in surf? One BCU coach I know is so adamantly opposed to the paddlefloat, he refused to acknowledge that using a paddlefloat in surf is even possible. Paddlefloat is worthless except in flat water, he reasoned.>> Nothing wrong with a paddlefloat rescue in surf if you don't use the fixed deck method and have a enough time between sets/waves and are skilled and agile. As far as the actual Cowboy rescue in general (whether surf, open sea, or what have you), Matt always reminds me of his friend who can do it first try in 40 knot seas, and hardly needs to shimmy up the deck at all. The guy is also a highly skilled board surfer -- and we know the kind of balance some of these surfers develop. So, much is dependent upon personal balance skills and practice. This is obvious, and has been mentioned before; but I think it bears repeating that many of these skills at rescue are very dependent upon the initiators individual skill. Having said that, I think everyone should give the various methods a try, and once some proficiency is developed, then try them out respectively in rougher conditions. I know for a fact which ones most folks will eventually adopt. For me, the Cowboy rescue does not work out well in small chop, so in really rough water, why try it? I also know most folks don't practice, normally, in the kind of conditions likely to knock them over. As a general rule, it would seem most people need to practice their rescue of choice(s) in conditions that are at least a bit more rough than they normally like to go out in. Once perfected their, they then have half a chance if the "you know what" hits the fan. I tried the cowboy rescue during my Trial Island incident a few years back when I got to the point where I could no longer put my head under the water anymore to perform the reentry and roll or side scoop solo rescue. It didn't work, but I did give it a try as I pulled out various "tools" from my bag of rescue tricks. I do believe everyone should have a back-up self rescue plan (if they are head-underwater-rescue dependent) that precludes having to immerse yourself underwater. That, however, is just my opinion. BC'in Ya Doug Lloyd *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Mon Sep 11 2000 - 07:50:30 PDT
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