Last wednesday I was instructing a group of novices. They were in kayaks for the third time. All of them had capsised in the first lesson, and shown that they were able to remove their sprayskirts and get out of the boat. During that exercise an instructor was standing in the water next to the kayak, to help if the novice did not manage to get out. All got out without problems. 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. Does anybody have experience with rescues in that situation? Any standard-rescues available? Niels Blaauw. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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. 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) 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. I'm no expert, but that's my first thought. Warwick Carter *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
"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 *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
----- Original Message ----- From: "Blaauw, Niels" <nblaauw_at_foxboro.com> To: "paddlewise (E-mail)" <paddlewise_at_paddlewise.net> Sent: Monday, September 17, 2001 8:31 AM Subject: [Paddlewise] Stuck in cockpit > 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? Here's what I do: 1) I pull along side the victim's boat and grab the cockpit rim, rotating the boat until I can grasp the PFD. 2) Once in this position, I grab the victim's PFD at the nearest the shoulder and pull the victim down on the back-deck so that her body weight is in line with the kayak's center of rotation. 3) With my free hand, I grab the far cockpit rim; 4) From here, I use both arms to rotate the boat upright. Craig *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Niels, I would try the "Hand Of God Rescue". Reach over the overturned kayak and grab any part of the capsized person that you can (preferably, the PFD). Pull up while at the same time pushing down on the near side of the boat. You can read and see more of these techniques in two great resources that should be in the library of all kayakers. 1. "Sea Kayak Rescue, The Definitive Guide to Modern Reentry and Recovery Techniques" by Roger Schumann & Jan Shriner. 2. Wayne Horodowich's new video "Capsize Recoveries & Rescue Procedures". www.useakayak.org I am not associated with any of these products, although I am acquainted with Wayne Horodowich. Usual disclaimers apply. I firmly believe that these 2 resources are excellent and I own and use them both. I would also make certain that you instruct novice users on how to get a sprayskirt off when the grab loop is not accessible. We had this happen to an experienced kayaker during a club rescue workshop. He was using a borrowed boat that was too small, had not adjusted the footpegs, and at the same time managed to get his grab loop under the skirt. Although I wasn't there, I understand, he was literally trapped in the boat until someone was able to assist him up. As a result of this, we are trying to have at least one rescue workshop every month. Steve Holtzman ----- Original Message ----- From: Blaauw, Niels To: paddlewise (E-mail) Sent: September 17, 2001 5:31 AM Subject: [Paddlewise] Stuck in cockpit Last wednesday I was instructing a group of novices. They were in kayaks for the third time. All of them had capsised in the first lesson, and shown that they were able to remove their sprayskirts and get out of the boat. During that exercise an instructor was standing in the water next to the kayak, to help if the novice did not manage to get out. All got out without problems. 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. Does anybody have experience with rescues in that situation? Any standard-rescues available? Niels Blaauw. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Niels, Let me take an attempt at this. You bring your boat parallel to his, very close. You lean your body over, placing your weight onto his boat. This was the most difficult part in practice, learning to trust an inverted boat to hold your weight. You grab the victim by the shoulders, forcing his shoulders back to his rear deck. Then you pull (roll) him upright. It is either quick and easy (with proper technique and practice) or completely impossible (with poor technique / no practice). I've never seen this done in "real life" though the people who trained me had done it in the surf. In a similar rescue, we did the same with the added complication of having the victim partly out of the boat. We had to guide his feet back into the cockpit (easy), get his torso back in (hard) and then roll him upright with a flooded cockpit. In this you assume the victim is unconscious. Getting him upright was not as hard as getting a big man into a tight cockpit. -jerry. At 08:31 AM 9/17/2001 -0400, Blaauw, Niels wrote: >Last wednesday I was instructing a group of novices. They were in kayaks for >the third time. All of them had capsised in the first lesson, and shown that >they were able to remove their sprayskirts and get out of the boat. During >that exercise an instructor was standing in the water next to the kayak, to >help if the novice did not manage to get out. All got out without problems. > >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. > >Does anybody have experience with rescues in that situation? Any >standard-rescues available? > >Niels Blaauw. > >*************************************************************************** >PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed >here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire >responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. >Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net >Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net >Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ >*************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Niels, There is no rescue for a person, once instructed, that hasn't the presence of mind to utilize what has been taught. After all a wet exit is a last resort. I am surprised that he knew to grab your bow. Your only alternative would be to exit your boat and pull the skirt off for him, an act that only compounds the risk. Sid Taylor *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
In this case, as the “target” is not trained in the Eskimo rescue, the “hand of god” rescue, while meant for an unconscious person may work . I’m not sure how well it works with a “panicked” paddler (will have to try it in rescue practice) but it entails coming parallel to the “target’s” boat. Ideally bow to bow but I find it works well both ways. With you boat parallel to “targets” boat, flop onto “targets hull and reach around at grab the cockpit coaming with your far hand and grab the “targets” pfd with your near hand. LEAN all of your weight onto “targets” hull to sink their hull as much as possible, at the same time push their upper body onto their back deck. While sinking the hull, forcing their body on the back deck and pulling on the coaming and their pfd, you will essentially “scoop” them up. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO PUT ALL YOU’RE WEIGHT ON THEIR HULL. This way you are using the natural righting buoyancy to help scoop the hull up. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
In a message dated 9/17/01 12:07:57 PM, wdctr_at_hotmail.com writes: <<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)>> I'd bet that this panicked paddler didn't even try to release the skirt. A lot of skirts will come off if you just raise your legs against it. Panic means one isn't thinking logically. Air was all they wanted and upside down is very disorienting. A sprayskirt has to stay well on or will not provide the function it must perform. Nylon skirts intended to keep paddle drip out of your lap is one thing but the basic idea of a real skirt is that if you get a dumping wave that your skirt will NOT pop off and allow the boat to fill with water. The other is if you do fall over you can roll up without filling the boat with water. Practice, practice, practice is necessary for most people to handle a dunking. You learn how to get out safely and you then practice it until it is as mindless as putting on your pfd. You just do it. Being upside down in the water becomes as natural as being right side up with practice. Wet exits are the first thing taught in most kayaking classes. This is why. << The other thought is on paddling around. A fast exit into the water, then using your buoyancy, 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. >> Do not, under most circumstances, come out of your boat. You can very easily become the second victim. The panicked paddler will try to climb up YOU and your pfd will not hold you up. What you need to do is just what he did if you are on that side. If you are on the other side you can do a trapped paddler r escue by reaching across the upturned boat. You have to be pretty good at it as I'd think the paddler would not be in the best position as you turn the boat. My partner tried to help a trapped paddler last spring doing exactly what was suggested, coming out of her boat. The paddler then tried to climb up her, she lost her prescription glasses, hat, and I forget what got pulled off her pfd but she was not able to actually help because she had no leverage. A PFD is just not enough. It only has a few pounds of flotation, certainly not enough to help someone who is frightened and fighting to get air. Someone came over and did a trapped paddler rescue to save the trapped person. Joan *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Well I stand corrected on the point about getting out of the boat to help someone. Thanks for putting me straight. The skirt I use, as has been pointed out is more for spray than dumping waves. As I don't surf or take on big waves it is not a problem. The skirt will handle more than drips, but has taken a bit of tuning to get there. A question though - A spray skirt takes most load in front of the paddler from waves, water pressure on rolls and so on. The key to resisting this load appears to be tension under the lip, resisting the forces trying to pull skirt up and over. When exiting, however the restraining forces seem to come more from the rear quadrants resisting in the same way. Is the current skirt / coaming design optimised to meet the demands of preventing water entry and allowing easy egress? Could a coaming be made with a variable lip geometry to meet both demands? Has it already been done? Any thoughts? Warwick Carter *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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