Re: [Paddlewise] Rescue Practice Report and Photos

From: John Fereira <jaf30_at_cornell.edu>
Date: Tue, 30 Jul 2002 11:26:48 -0400
At 07:54 AM 7/30/02 -0700, Steve Holtzman wrote:
>John F said:
> > During an all-in rescue at the AKT symposium a couple of years ago, we had
> > something like 9 people go in at the same time.  Nigel was suggested that
> > if you were not actively involved in a rescue, climbing on top of your
>boat
> > so that you were not just "hanging out in cold water" was a good idea.
>
>John,
>
>In this situation, don't you think it would be better to have individuals
>start rescuing themselves rather than just climbing on top of their boats or
>"hanging out"?

You're making the assumption that everyone knows how to self-rescue.  I'm 
guessing that the most likely scenario where an all-in would occur would be 
when an experienced person was leading a group of inexperienced people and 
an unexpected condition caused everyone to go in (for example, strong 
gusting winds preceding a storm or very large boat wakes).  The immediate 
concern at that point would be to make sure everyone was okay (did anyone 
swallow a lot of water?  Is anyone panicing?) and that everyone get control 
of their gear and stay with their boat.  Telling the inexperienced to climb 
onto their boat while one or two are able to self rescue or assist each 
other would likely be safer rather than have someone without self-rescue 
experience try to get back in, fail, and start to become exhausted.  It may 
become even more difficult to assist an exhausted paddler back into their 
boat (and if you do, they're more likely going to capsize again), then just 
have them wait a minute or two on top of their boat.
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Received on Tue Jul 30 2002 - 10:30:27 PDT

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