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? He does not have a paddle float or if he did it floated away. He is healthy but a little out of shape and over weight. He is wearing Chino, a T-shirt and a gimme cap. The water is cool, but not immediately life threatening. What is the easiest thing to teach a casual paddler so he or she can deal with a capsize. Recreational boats are heavy for there size. They often don't have bulkheads. The paddler probably does not have any safety equipment beyond a PFD (if he has that he might not have it on). An older person may not have necessary upper body strength to empty the boat or pull themselves up over the side of the boat. A casual paddler will not take the time to practice sophisticated self rescue techniques. If you had his attention at a demo for 3 minutes, what would you show the guy that could potentially save his life? 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/ ***************************************************************************
First move: Drop the fish. ;<] Marsanne >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? > *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
I'm anxious to hear how this guy could deal with his situation...beyond keep your PFD on, stay with the boat, make noise, etc....without a front bulkhead the boat is going to float stern up - or at least bow neutral - he has no way of getting water out of the boat if he gets in. Some sort of re-entry and paddle a full boat would seem to be logical - but you indicated that he probably can't pull himself up and onto the boat. His PFD could be used as a paddlefloat - but I'd never suggest someone take it off for that reason. If his name is McGyver then some sort of stirrup could be fashioned from a belt or some of his fishing gear...or his t-shirt....but for all of that, if you only get 3 min to teach him something...that probably isn't the lesson. Short of hang on, drift to shore that night or the next day....I'm not sure of his options. Submerge the cockpit fully from the front end, get in, then bail with his hat/hands/shoes until he can paddle it home? If he can't pull himself up, the lack of a front bulkhead may lower the deck or cockpit enough for him to get in. So, in reality I'm curious what actions you more experienced PWers out there believe could bring this guy home at the end of the night? A neat real-world question - glad you asked it, Nick Keith *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
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/ ***************************************************************************
Nick Schade wrote: > > If you had his attention at a demo for 3 minutes, what would you show > the guy that could potentially save his life? If I ended up in the described situation, I would probably not be able to save my life, even with 20 years of on-water experience. In three minutes, you can definitely NOT teach somebody how to perform a self rescue with a rec boat, but you may teach him to avoid the situation. I'm imagining a one-shot video of 3 minutes. The shot starts with a happy paddler, in a beautiful sunset. Calm, glassy waves reflect the colors of the sun: Pure bliss and beauty. A large vessel comes by at quite a distance. We see the kayakker watch the vessel as part of the scenery. A few moments later, the wake of the vessel is approaching the kayak. (We may take the shoot above a sandbar, so the wake will rise out of the water and break.) The kayakker wakes up from his dream and is clearly deciding on some action. Also, he clearly doesn't have a clue how to handle the waves. First he may try to get away from them, of course not being able to outrun a wave. The wave tips him over. With a bit of a struggle he manages to get out of the boat, coming up gasping and coughing. The waves have passed: Once more we only have only the beautiful swell and the sunset. After catching his breath, the kayakker rights the boat (even with little floatation, you can do this once.) He tries to reenter the cockpit, without succes. He tries to climb the stern, but slides off. By now, the boat has taken on so much water the bow is sinking. He tries to lift the bow by pushing down the stern. For a moment it seems the boat will come up, but just when it is level, the last bubble of air will leave the stern and the boat will sink. The kayakker is now a swimmer. He will try to gather some of his floating equipment, decide he is not able to swim with his hands full, then leaves it all behind and starts swimming away from the scene. The camera will zoom out to a wide shot: A large ocean, a silhouet of a coastline at the horizon, the glassy swell and the tiny, tiny kayakker making a pathetic attempt to make it to the far away shore. The film will go to fast-forward, so the 3 minute shot will end with the sun going down on the scene, leaving the viewer in total darkness. Hopefully the image will linger in the mind of the viewer. At first, it may teach him to stay within swimming range of the shore. Later on, he may be curious how the kayakker could have saved himself, and gain knowledge about boats and equipments. I think you can not force that kind of knowledge on anyone. People will not learn if they don't want to. You might force them to read a book and take an exam, but even if they pass, it is likely they will never apply their knowledge to real life. People can use all their intelligence just to stay ignorant. If they don't want to learn, fine, but let them stay close to shore. Niels. *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
Three minutes for a solo newbie? 1. You will eventually tip and swim and lose your boat, so only paddle where you know you can swim back to shore until you learn to deal with rescues and self-rescues. 2. Wear your PFD and don't drink alcohol so you will be able to swim to shore. 3. Be attentive to currents and waves and cold water so you are not prevented from swimming to shore. Cheers, Richard Culpeper *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
Fish 1, Humans 0. Ya got a problem with that? Cheers, Richard Culpeper (Those fish never did anything to me, so why should I do anything to them?) *************************************************************************** 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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