On Thursday, April 17, 2003, at 04:13 PM, Nick Schade wrote: > A fisherman heads out from his lake side camp house on the opening day > of fishing in his new Pungo. The boat is 12' long, weighs 50+ lbs, and > has one bulkhead in the back. At dusk he catches a good size bass at a > spot in the middle of the lake. As he reaches to bring in the fish he > leans too far and capsizes the boat. He is wearing a PFD, there is no > one around to hear his cries for help and it is too dark for anyone to > see him. What should he do? I gave this guy an advantage by giving him a Pungo which has one bulkhead so it won't sink completely. But after a capsize the boat is rarely full of water so it should float somewhat. If it is upright he may be able to pull himself up on the stern and try to kick his way to shore. If it is upside down it may be very difficult to flip upright, but it should still contain trapped air and float fairly well. He may be best served by trying to climb up on the bow and again kick his way to shore. If the boat is floating deep enough he may be able to sink down and then throw himself over the middle of the boat so he can grasp the combing or rail underwater on the far side. From this position he may be able to slowly kick to shore. Rec boats are often so short and their cockpits so large that they don't have much room for flotation particularly in the bow. And their wide shape makes it hard to secure float bags in place. An important reason people buy these boats is their perceived safety. However, that safety only exists until something bad happens. If it is not possible to teach the casual paddler how to be safe, maybe something should be done to make the boats themselves safer. Nick Schade Guillemot Kayaks 824 Thompson St Glastonbury, CT 06033 USA Ph/Fx: (860) 659-8847 http://www.guillemot-kayaks.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 Thu Apr 17 2003 - 18:48:46 PDT
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