[Paddlewise] Losing contact with the boat

Nick wrote:
>If the conditions are severe enough that your roll is not
>enough, then chances are quite good that they are also
>severe enough that you may not be able to maintain
>contact with your boat. 

G'day Nick,

The times I've seen good rollers have to leave the boat are usually in the kind of conditions you've described, while landing through surf. I wasn't clear if thats what you mean't because if the conditions you described weren't in surf that could push a kayaker to land, swimming across rips of course, then the idea of unintentionally losing contact with the boat really bothers me. 

If judgement fails and a kayaker is likely to be caught in the conditions you describe in a location where they can't be blown or pushed to the shore by waves, then surely there's going to be some advance preparation possible to avoid losing contact with the boat. In such a situation this might be a personal tether, or at least the training to hang on to a paddle that is securely tethered to the boat.

BTW I'm not advocating using a tether while landing through surf, but suggesting that its an option at least as important as training for a long swim, when preparing to paddle alone off shore or with a risk of bad conditions off shore.

All the best, PeterO
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