John Fereira wrote: >In each instance it became pretty clear that a "cowboy" self-rescue is pretty unreliable in windy/wavy conditions. "Steve Holtzman" <sh_at_actglobal.net> wrote: >John, I agree with you about the Cowboy Rescue. I can get my but into the cockpit, but then either I'm to big, or the cockpit's too small, but I just sit there with my feet still in the water thinking "Ok, now what am I going to do." I would say it's only as unreliable as your level of practice in the rescue. It is, however, impeded by short cockpits, tall back decks, tight hip pads, stiff hips, or really sloshy water. I've done it in 2' waves and winds to Force 5 or 6 with no problem. Having to sit on the back deck to enter your kayak also makes the cowboy scramble difficult. If you have a long keyhole cockpit, it's much easier. Low aft decks lower your center of gravity, making things much easier. The CD Squall/Solstice GTS have high back decks and shortish cockpits. They're 10x tougher than a Romany Explorer or VCP Avocet. It was somewhat easy with the Sea Spirit and its 5" depth behind the cockpit, even though the one I paddled has an ocean cockpit. (I had to lie prone on the back deck, but I did it. Probably not doable for me in any seas) Having an empty cockpit helps to minimize the free surface (slosh) effect, but that also means you need to do it quickly before the waves refill the boat. It's definitely not for everybody, but it's not unreliable for everybody, either. Shawn Yahoo! Health - Feel better, live better http://health.yahoo.com *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************Received on Mon Jul 29 2002 - 13:40:27 PDT
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