I had an interesting experience yesterday. Conditions were 15-20 knots, weather-tide, .5 - 1 metre breaking seas. I was out practising rescues with a safety boat/assistant/victim and my last drill was to put him on a tow, capsize, drop my paddle, release the tow, grab one-half of my split, and roll up. The first time went well, except that the tow belt, while released, stayed around my waist due to lack of tension on the line. This happened because he sprinted in as soon as I capsized, to assist if needed. We talked through it while I sorted myself out, and he replaced my split on my back deck while we were rafted up. Telling him to delay his approach, I went through the drill again. Making sure the belt was well free, I reached back, grabbed my split, set up and rolled. Something tightened around my shoulders, and I got hit in the face with some gear. I opened my eyes and saw it was my bilge pump, which was secured by a line and carried on the rear deck. I still had enough movement to set up again and roll properly. I surfaced looking like I'd gone through a spider web. I found that when my split was put back, it was stored in such a way as to entangle with the pump, which was then pulled out, wrapping around the shaft, and also tangling with the released tow line, which was what had wrapped around my shoulders. Having once been entangled with a rope that was then caught in a boats propeller, I have a healthy respect for the dangers of lines in the sea. Cheers -- John Kirk-Anderson Banks Peninsula NEW ZEALAND *************************************************************************** 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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