As David Anderson said, I'm a safety wonk. This does not mean I don't push the limits. This past Wednesday I was out in the local waters off Victoria. There was a gale warning in effect. The wind was steady out of the southeast which for us brings storms. The air temperature was cold about 8*C and it was raining. There were four of us in our group - two men and two women. We launched from Esquimalt Lagoon on the flood. For awhile we played in the surf off the beach - the waves were small and it was hard to get a good consistent ride. We then paddled east for about an hour keeping a strong eye on the weather. When we saw the flags at the navy base stiffen we stopped short of our planned destination, talked about the changing conditions and turned back. We went ashore in the lee of Fisgard lighthouse and had a quick lunch. From this point all we had to do was round the light house and paddle less then a kilometer back to the put in. The wind was picking up and the water had started to ebb. We made it around the head land and started back without any signs of trouble at all. The oldest member of the group forged ahead. I could see his intent was to get up the short channel to the put in before the outflow from the lagoon hit its full ebb. Following him was one of the women. I was next in line and got caught up in catching the waves. They'd increased in size. Basically I was having a blast. Then the woman in front of me capsized. She turned over in the surf, less then 10 meters from shore, stood up and started hauling her boat up the beach. Seeing she was ok I immediate turned around in the surf and headed back to check on the fourth member of the group. I paddled back turned again and approached her from her stern. Just as I reached her I asked if she was ok. She twisted around, said everything was fine, twisted back and fell straight into the ocean. She did not try to roll back up and by the time she wet exited I had her boat by the bow. I asked if she was fine and if she was cold? She was ok because she was wearing a dry top and a farmer Jane wet suit. I told her to go to the stern so we could empty her boat. Things worked well up to a point. We successfully emptied the boat but before she could crawl back in a wave filled it again. Sitting in her boat she said she'd try pumping it out. But as we were only about 100 meters from the beach I said forget it and snapped my line on her boat and towed her to the beach. On the way in she dumped once more in knee deep water. My safety equipment includes flares (in the boat and in my pfd), two types of whistles, a tow line, paddle float, pfd and a towline, flash lights, chemical light sticks a knife on the pfd, a compass on the boat and one on the pfd and I wear a wet suit and paddling jacket year round. I also have a towing pig on my pfd. I used this to tow her to shore. I'm working toward the purchase of a dry suit. So what did we do wrong? The trouble started with our group dynamics. We should have worked out what we wanted to do on the last leg of the trip when we were on shore having lunch That one wanted to forge on, that one wanted to play (me) and what our companions wanted to do was never expressed. It would have been better for me to hang back. As the more confident (note I did not say competent) I would have been in a better position to lend aid if it was needed and I could still have played in the surf. I will never again ask a paddler, that may or may not be in trouble if they are ok unless, I'm in a position that they can make easy eye contact with me. And finally I will never again waste time trying to dump out a boat in surf when we're that close to shore. Duh! I suspect the women got in trouble because they did not paddle aggressively (with a faster cadence) and perhaps because their bracing strokes were not strong enough. That's pure speculation on my part. Ok, all that said, everyone of us had a good time and none of us felt we where in an serious trouble. This was my first assisted rescue in what I would call big water. In fact it was lots of fun. I'm looking forward to our up coming big water practice session. We try to paddle every Wednesday and Sunday, but you cannot come with us unless you have immersion gear. stroke for stroke gordin warner *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
Your training and experience put you in a good position on this trip. You were able to to be helpful where it was needed and learn the potential consequences of your choices, while at the same time having the kind of great fun that can only be experienced somewhere near the boundaries of your confidence level. This was a highly evocative report, for me. Thanks. bv ----- Original Message ----- From: "gordin warner" <hmgwarner_at_shaw.ca> To: "paddle wise" <PaddleWise_at_paddlewise.net> Sent: Friday, January 25, 2002 1:30 PM Subject: [Paddlewise] "Safety Wonk" > As David Anderson said, I'm a safety wonk. > > This does not mean I don't push the limits. This past Wednesday I was out > in the local waters off Victoria. There was a gale warning in effect. The > wind was steady out of the southeast which for us brings storms. The air > temperature was cold about 8*C and it was raining. There were four of us in > our group - two men and two women. > > We launched from Esquimalt Lagoon on the flood. For awhile we played in the > surf off the beach - the waves were small and it was hard to get a good > consistent ride. We then paddled east for about an hour keeping a strong eye > on the weather. > When we saw the flags at the navy base stiffen we stopped short of our > planned destination, talked about the changing conditions and turned back. > We went ashore in the lee of Fisgard lighthouse and had a quick lunch. >From > this point all we had to do was round the light house and paddle less then a > kilometer back to the put in. > > The wind was picking up and the water had started to ebb. We made it around > the head land and started back without any signs of trouble at all. The > oldest member of the group forged ahead. I could see his intent was to get > up the short channel to the put in before the outflow from the lagoon hit > its full ebb. Following him was one of the women. I was next in line and > got caught up in catching the waves. They'd increased in size. Basically I > was having a blast. > > Then the woman in front of me capsized. She turned over in the surf, less > then 10 meters from shore, stood up and started hauling her boat up the > beach. Seeing she was ok I immediate turned around in the surf and headed > back to check on the fourth member of the group. I paddled back turned > again and approached her from her stern. Just as I reached her I asked if > she was ok. She twisted around, said everything was fine, twisted back and > fell straight into the ocean. > > She did not try to roll back up and by the time she wet exited I had her > boat by the bow. I asked if she was fine and if she was cold? She was ok > because she was wearing a dry top and a farmer Jane wet suit. I told her to > go to the stern so we could empty her boat. Things worked well up to a > point. We successfully emptied the boat but before she could crawl back in a > wave filled it again. > > Sitting in her boat she said she'd try pumping it out. But as we were only > about 100 meters from the beach I said forget it and snapped my line on her > boat and towed her to the beach. On the way in she dumped once more in knee > deep water. > > My safety equipment includes flares (in the boat and in my pfd), two types > of whistles, a tow line, paddle float, pfd and a towline, flash lights, > chemical light sticks a knife on the pfd, a compass on the boat and one on > the pfd and I wear a wet suit and paddling jacket year round. I also have a > towing pig on my pfd. I used this to tow her to shore. I'm working toward > the purchase of a dry suit. > > So what did we do wrong? > > The trouble started with our group dynamics. We should have worked out what > we wanted to do on the last leg of the trip when we were on shore having > lunch That one wanted to forge on, that one wanted to play (me) and what > our companions wanted to do was never expressed. It would have been better > for me to hang back. As the more confident (note I did not say competent) I > would have been in a better position to lend aid if it was needed and I > could still have played in the surf. I will never again ask a paddler, that > may or may not be in trouble if they are ok unless, I'm in a position that > they can make easy eye contact with me. And finally I will never again > waste time trying to dump out a boat in surf when we're that close to shore. > Duh! > > I suspect the women got in trouble because they did not paddle aggressively > (with a faster cadence) and perhaps because their bracing strokes were not > strong enough. That's pure speculation on my part. > > Ok, all that said, everyone of us had a good time and none of us felt we > where in an serious trouble. This was my first assisted rescue in what I > would call big water. In fact it was lots of fun. I'm looking forward to > our up coming big water practice session. We try to paddle every Wednesday > and Sunday, but you cannot come with us unless you have immersion gear. > > stroke for stroke > gordin warner *************************************************************************** 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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