[Paddlewise] Assisted rescue

Hi all

With the recent talk of bow lifting rescues etc I thought, at the risk of
sounding like a stuck record which replays every twelve months, I'd re-post
a description of my preferred assisted rescue. Last time I posted it I got a
lot of back channel requests to know where it came from, so FWIW I take no
credit - it was developed here (North East Scotland) a number of  years back
by Donald Thomson, a SCA (Scottish Canoe Association - BCU north of the
border) level 5 sea coach/assessor. It is IMHO an extremely useful tool to
add to the rescue box of tricks.

repost from 5/4/00:

It is possible to perform rescues without any lifting effort, 'bouncing', or
great strength. Works best if the boat you are rescuing has a w greenland
type shape of bow (knorkdapp is good for this), bow toggles (preferably at
the bow!!! not half way back the foredeck - IMHO it's irresponsible to
design boats without toggles **at** the bow!!!) and bulkheads (preferably
sloping and close to the cockpit) or floatation bags. I can put a swimmer
back in their empty boat in under a minute with this technique (try that
with a flip and pump rescue - my electric pump takes about four minutes to
empty my boat). I posted this procedure to Paddlewise a year
ago, but here it is again:

The rescue is basically a T rescue, deviating from standard at points 4-7:

1. Get the victim holding on to your bow toggle. Hold onto their boat and
secure your paddle in a park.
2. Right the victims boat if it is upside down but do not attempt to drain
it at this stage.
3. Hold the swamped boat's bow toggle and manoeuvre the boat 90º to your
own.

4. ***This is the clever bit*** If the victims boat is on your right, hold
the bow toggle firmly in your left hand. Now simply capsize away from the
swamped boat,holding its bow toggle by your chest, until you are lying
horizontally on the surface of the water and your boat is ***completely***
on edge - the momentum of your body leaning to the water, your boat's hull
rotation, and the shape of the swamped boats bow lifts the victims boat's
boat so that it slides effortlessly up and over your kayak, finishing with
the swamped boats bow by your head and over your boats right hand freeboard
(or vice versa if you are performing the rescue on your left). The more
confidently you throw yourself over, the less effort is involved - the
swamped boat provides tremendous stability - a 17ft outrigger.

5. With your free right hand reach over the top of the vitims boat and grasp
it at the keel line and rotate the victims boat towards you - The victim's
boat does not have to be very far over your own because rolling on your side
increases your freeboard and lifts the victims cockpit clear of the
surface - it can thus drains completely.

6. Rotate the now empty boat to upright, you are still lying on the water.

7. Hip snap up/push the victims bow back to the water. Again this is
effortless, as the victims boat sliding off does most of the work.

8. Swing the victims stern to your bow, raft up and return the victim to
their boat.

In practice 4-7 becomes one fluid movement taking about ten seconds as
opposed to 5 - 10 minutes unable to paddle with a hand pump. As I see it the
advantages with this rescue are:

You do not need any assistance from the victim, who is always visible to you
It is blisteringly quick
It is almost effortless
It is very stable
The victims boat does not interfere with any deck mounted equipment you may
have
You do not interfere with any deck mounted equipment the victim may have
Very simple to learn and perform

Hope this is of interest/understandable - If you haven't tried this rescue I
cannot recommend it more highly.

Cheers

Colin Calder
57º19'N  2º10'W


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