Re: [Paddlewise] Solid Paddle Floats and PF rescues

Joan wrote:
>How do you avoid <breaking your paddle during a paddlefloat rescue>
>if you aren't real agile? I have to clamber back into the 
>boat with a stirrup. I often find, with boats other than mine, that I 
>still tip the boats to the point of taking on water as I step up. I
try 
>to do it quickly but that isn't always possible. Bringing the end of 
>the paddle closer to the boat limits the tipping BUT puts more
pressure 
>on the paddle.

Well, the first thing I'd recommend if you weren't real agile would be
to practice with a sturdy paddle, and not your favorite lightweight
$400 carbon fiber/unobtanium 20 oz. paddle!

I try to use a combination swim-kicking motion with my feet, and pullup
with my upper body onto the aft deck.  Pushups might be good
cross-training for this sort of thing, if you're so inclined. 
Definitely the kicking helps more than anything.  Rather than making
your upper body do all the work (which gets to be more and more work as
more of your body gets into the air and loses the buoyancy of the
water) make sure you have your lower body help out as much as possible.

I think a lot of folks try to use a combination of brute force and
awkwardness to pull themselves up onto their kayak in a rescue.  It
seems to me this should be more of a "finesse" thing, just like
rolling, where you need to use agility, technique, and momentum.  (So
with a lack of agility, you can always fall back on technique and
momentum!!)

Shawn

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