Re: [Paddlewise] PFD accessories

On Mon, Sep 09, 2002 at 08:23:22PM -0500, Ron Dunnington wrote:

> I carry as little as possible attached to the front of my PFD.  All
> I have is a whistle. I store most of that stuff , when I carry it,
> in a deck bag. Reason is, I have not developed a dependable roll and
> must depend on a wet exit and re-entry to get back in the boat. I
> discovered (the hard way) that all those goodies attached to the
> front of my PFD make it almost impossible to re-enter the boat.

Bringing post wet exit re-entry strategies is probably both a tangent and
"asking for it", but what the heck (it's late and my brain is becoming
number by the moment).

If you like or need all those goodies on the front of your vest, and
the only thing holding you back is the need to a conventional re-entry
to get back in the boat, then why not ...

Learn to do a paddle float assisted re-entry and roll.  Keeping a foam
paddle float under the deck lines makes it easy to find on a flipped
over boat.  The foam kind are what you want for this procedure (or a
dual chamber inflatable float, with only one chamber filled with air).
And the foam kind go on the paddle blade in nothing flat.

If you've ever done an Eskimo rescue, the float assisted re-entry and
roll is no harder.  The only drawback is the amount of water you can
pick up while rolling back to vertical.  Maybe I'm lucky there, being
6'4" with long legs means I tend to fill the cockpit and reduce the
available volume for water to occupy when coming back up.

All in all, I'm glad I learned the technique.  It works.  It's even
fun.  Doesn't beat a real roll, but even kayakers that possess one
(but don't practice it) get to play about in the water thanks to the
unexpected wet exit.

Works fine, even with a rescue vest on (which has more hardware
hanging off it than a "Tool Time" re-run).  And with one of those on,
a more traditional re-entry that has me crawling about the rear deck
of my boat is NO fun at all.  It it doesn't chew the heck out of the
deck, it'll catch on the deck lines.

-.- jwd

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