Re: [Paddlewise] Swimming a boat beyond the surf zone?

At 07:58 PM 9/11/00 +1100, you wrote:
>Scott wrote
>SNIP
> > 4. Swimming the boat out beyond the surf zone and then performing a
> > paddlefloat or assisted rescue.
>
>G'Day Scott,
>
>Is this really practical? - wouldn't surf that tipped you into the drink be
>too hard to swim against with a kayak - maybe even dangerous - I've been
>taught to stay seaward of a kayak in the surf?

I don't think it's very practical advice, because the force of a broken 
wave on capsized kayak is going to be a LOT stronger than a person trying 
to swim/tow it out to sea. However, two instances come to mind where this 
might work...
One, if the capsizing wave broke much further out than the majority of the 
breaking waves. In this case, you are already out of the surf zone, 
although an onshore wind may require you to tow the boat out for a few 
minutes to give you room to self-rescue. Two, some places have very calm 
water between big sets (Crescent Bay, WA is one example where there can 5 
minutes between waves). In this case, you would have time to tow the boat 
out beyond the surf zone. But this seems silly, since it would be faster to 
just self rescue in the first place.
Perhaps there's something I'm missing here...
Kevin

Kevin Whilden
Your Planet Earth
http://www.yourplanetearth.org
(206) 788-0281 (ph)
(206) 788-0284 (f)


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