Re: [Paddlewise] Stuck in cockpit

"Blaauw, Niels" wrote:
> 
> Last wednesday a guy capsised in deep water and panicked. I saw him
> struggling to get his head above the surface, without releasing his
> sprayskirt.
> 
> Luckily he was on my side of his kayak. If brought my bow close to him, and
> he managed to grab my bow. ....
> If he had tried to get to the surface on the other side, I would have had to
> paddle around, loosing precious seconds. I he was too panicked to grab my
> bow, I don't know what else I could have done.
> 
> Does anybody have experience with rescues in that situation? Any
> standard-rescues available?

A couple of things come to mind. The first is that if he's too panicked
to grab a bow, it's probably time for the Hand of God rescue. Come up
parallel to him (it's better if he's on the other side for this). Lean
across his hull, reach down and grab, well, preferably his PFD shoulder
strap, but whatever you can grab. Pull him back onto the stern deck and
up while pressing down on the side of his hull nearest your boat.

If you're parallel and he's on your side of his boat, try the parallel
paddle rescue. Put a foot of space between your boats, then lay your
paddle across your lap and the bottom of his hull, grab his reaching
hands, and place them on the shaft. You may have to maveuver his hands
so that the thumbs are together so he's on the right side of the paddle
to pull up. A novice may chin up instead of hip snapping, but at least
he'll be able to breathe.

-- 
Steve

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