Re: [Paddlewise] Stuck in cockpit

The message quoting in Warwicks response is a bit messed up so I've done a 
bit of reformatting because I wanted to comment on both messages.



| "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. After that I told him to relax and breath, and
>then to take his time to get out of his boat.
>
>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.


There are a couple of rescue techniques that I can think of.  The first 
method is one that I've often heard used by whitewater kayakers.  It's 
called the "hand of god" rescue and is used when a kayaker might have been 
knocked unconscious from a close encounter with a rock is injured in some 
way (shoulder dislocation is one of the most common 
injuries).  Essentially, you've got to be parallel to the capsized 
boat.  Pressing down on the hull closest to you while pulling on the other 
side (especially if you can grab the cockpit) will right the boat fairly 
easily.  I played "victim" twice last week in a hand of god rescue demo, 
and unfortunately it works best if the victim is very relaxed.  The other 
rescue technique, occasionally taught in touring kayak rescue classes is a 
"scoop rescue".  It is used when the victim is physically unable to assist 
in the reentry due to physical limitation due ot exhaustion or 
injury.  It's essentially the same as a hand of god rescue except the 
rescuer grabs the pfd of the person in the capsized boat and pulls them 
onto the back deck making it easier to rotate the boat.


Coincidentally, I've experience several interesting wet exit/reentry 
incidents in the past week.  One of them was pretty much identical to the 
one that Niels experienced.  The other instructor in the class actually 
brought his bow up for the "victim" to grab.  The victim remained calm and 
was able to free himself and the perform a paddlefloat reentry.  Only after 
he was back in his kayak did he tell us that he had a genetic blood 
circulation disorder (don't recall the name) which caused the loss of blood 
circulation in his fingers (they were white) resulting in hands so numb 
they became practically useless. It turns out that even marginally cold 
water will cause the loss of circulation and it's exacerbated by stress (so 
doing a wet exit in a kayak for the first time didn't help).  Ironically, 
on the way back from the lesson he unintentionally capsized and he did a 
much better wet exit.  I was just ahead of him when he went over and went 
back and did an assisted t-rescue.

In the lesson the day before a woman didn't tell us that she had shoulder 
problems until she had done a wet exit and was attempting a reentry.

Lesson learned:  always ask all beginning students if they have any 
physical limitations which we should know about.

In the lesson on Saturday there was another wet exit similar to the guy on 
Sunday.  Both of the students were very nervous about doing a wet exit and 
I don't think the first one actually got her head under water before she 
was pushing the spray skirt off from the side.  She hadn't released the 
grab loop and her legs were still in the cockpit with her arm wrapped over 
the hull and her head out of water.  I also paddled up so that she could 
grab my bow.  She was still panicking a bit and latched onto my bow with 
both arms and legs, making my boat quite a bit less stable.  In hindsight, 
she really wasn't in a bad position, and I presented my bow before trying 
to calm her down to make sure that she wouldn't cause me to capsize as 
well.  Her second wet exit was much better.



At 05:51 PM 9/17/01 +0200, Warwick Carter wrote:

>I have little experience with 'off the shelf' spray skirts, having made my
>own.  My thought is that if a spray skirt needs to be released then perhaps it
>is not appropriate.  If I try to get out without releasing my skirt at the
>front, then the back will pull free.  There is a bit more resistance, but it
>is by no means enough to stop anyone.  (My skirt is nylon with a bungee around
>the edge)

That might be okay if you're going to be paddling in calm conditions and 
always paddle with a "flat hull".  If a spray skirt will release by itself 
it means that there may be times when it will release when you don't want 
it to.  If a spray skirt can be released from the side or back without 
pulling the grab loop that it could also likely release easily when edging 
the boat aggressively.  With a low or high brace it's pretty easy to edge a 
kayak such that part of the cockpit is under water and the edge of a poorly 
fitting spray skirt that is likely to release is on the side that would be 
underwater. Holding a brace when there are gallons of water filling the 
cockpit isn't going to be easy.

Most whitewater kayakers use a tight fitting neoprene skirt because it's 
fairly common for their deck to become covered with water.  A poorly 
fitting spray skirt could easily implode, filling their cockpit with water 
at a time when they need the most maneuverability.  The same thing could 
happen when paddling in the surf or in large wind/boat waves on a lake.


>The other thought is on paddling around.  A fast exit into the water, then
>using your boyancy, and that of your PDF could give enough support to get the
>victims head above water, give a breath and reduce the panic.  I believe this
>would be quicker than paddling around.

Again, this is not good advice.  You do *not* want to exit your boat if 
someone else is in the water.  First of all, if the person is really 
panicking they might crawl all over you in order to stay above water.  You 
just might be putting yourself in potential danger by going into the water 
with someone that is really panicking.  Secondly, an assisted t-rescue is 
*much* easier and faster than a paddlefloat rescue.  In still another 
capsize/reentry incident that happened yesterday a first time kayak renter 
capsized about 50 feet from the dock where I was about to start a 
lesson.  He wasn't wearing a spray skirt and got out fine and was calm (he 
was even laughing about it).  I got in my boat and talked him through a 
t-rescue.  I had him back in his kayak in less than a minute from the time 
I reached his boat even though he actually stood up in the cockpit in order 
to turn around instead of laying on this stomach on the rear deck, sliding 
his feet in, and rolling over.  Several people watching from the ice cream 
shop along shore applauded.  He tentatively paddled about five times before 
slowly capsizing again.  We put him in a more stable boat.

There are a couple more reasons why going into the water to rescue someone 
is not a good idea.  If the water is cold, the only clothes that the victim 
may have with them are now soaking wet and continuing to wear them could 
lead to hypothermia.  Unless you've got some dry clothes in a bulkhead, if 
you go into the water, your clothes are going to get soaked as well.  Once 
a victim is back in their boat you could give them your dry top.  Even if 
you're paddling naked (except for your dry PFD), it would likely be better 
than someone heading back to shore in wet clothes.

Finally, if there is a bit of wind (which might have been what caused the 
person to capsize in the first place) what do you think your boat is doing 
while you're in the water helping the person try to keep their head above 
water.  It is likely that it is blowing across the water away from you 
faster than you can swim.





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