Re: [Paddlewise] HOG Rescues

At 04:04 PM 1/6/2004 -0500, Mike Hamilton wrote:
>On Tue, 6 Jan 2004, Shawn Baker wrote:
>
> > I remember one such scenario where the instructor trainer did so, and
> > banged your, er, her hands on her hull and waited for a rescue.  One
> > student (I won't name my name to protect the guilty) went in for a
> > rescue.  Not quick enough for the hapless trainer, whose hands
> > disappeared below the surface to release her spraydeck.  The well
> > meaning student cruised in for a HOG as the trainer came up between
> > their hulls, and he whacked her head with his hull.
>
>You are not alone, my friend. During routine rolling practice on the
>Chesapeake Bay a few years back, my wife blew her roll, signalled (banged)
>for a bow rescue, and then without missing a beat, she pulled her skirt
>and surfaced between my bow and her boat. After the head collision, she
>immediately tried to climb on my bow and managed to get a foot on each
>kayak. When I asked her what she thought she was doing, she replied: "the
>jellyfish!!!"

There's gotta be a lot of stories like this.

In  one of the beginners classes  before they went through the wet exits a 
couple of the students were asking about rolling instead of doing a wet 
exit and since it was  very hot day we were all inclined to get wet 
ourselves.  The guy running the classes (Phil)  talked about doing a wet 
exit, bow rescues, and rolling. He then offered to demonstrate and asked 
the other guy helping in the class to give him a bow rescue and then tipped 
over.  The other guy started explaining,  "notice how he's slapping the 
boat and moving his hands back and forth.....and as you can see he can stay 
under a long time before doing his wet exit". "Uh, Jim?", I interrupted, 
"he asked you to do a bow rescue".    Phil managed to stay under for about 
30 seconds before Jim finally got over to give him his bow, but he made 
it.  At the end of the class, Phil was going to demonstrate a roll (a lot 
of beginners seem to want to see us roll even though we're not teaching 
it).  Apparently, Jim wasn't listening again because as soon as Phil 
capsized he went in for a bow rescue and got there just in time as Phil 
came up from his roll to knock him back over.

Last summer in a beginners class, Phil was explaining the motions to go 
through for a wet exit and one of the students was asking why they had to 
slap the hull and wave their arms, so he demonstrated a bow rescue to show 
that it's just something to practice in case someone is nearby to do a bow 
rescue.  When it came time for the first person to do her wet exit she 
capsized,  slapped the hull, waved her arms back and forth, and Phil and I 
looked at each other, nodding, and thinking "good job so far".  And she 
continued to wave her arms for another 10 seconds or so before we realized 
that she was expecting a bow rescue.  It was an ugly bow rescue be she 
managed to come back up without exiting her boat.  Somehow she missed the 
point that she was supposed to wet exit and the bow rescue was something 
she'd learn later.

John Fereira
jaf30_at_cornell.edu
Ithaca, NY
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