RE: [Paddlewise] Neither Fear nor Panic

Matt asked,

"....   Did you try using the big bag with just one side of it inflated?
That should
give you a flat blade (and a spare chamber if your other one was punctured).

Did you fix the paddle/paddlefloat to the kayak while pumping? If not what
technique did you use to keep the kayak stable while pumping?

Matt Broze  ....." 

Hi Matt,

I did try inflating only one side, or better still what I did was deflate
one side. There was still water in between the two bags that added to the
weight. But yes I deflated one side, got rid of as much water as possible,
and yes, I placed the paddle in the technique that sometime we discussed and
you suggested giving a name and I called the Mexican Rescue Technique ( do
you remember?), which is placing your blade under the knee brace and
supporting it with the knee, perpendicular to the kayak with the paddlefloat
on the other blade, and placing the sprayskirt covering almost the whole
section and pumping on one side. That way I kept the boat balanced while
partially emptying the water.

Then I placed the bag under the cockpit and started paddling back. 

Now let me mention that with the Voyageur paddlefloat, (which I don't know
if it still exists in the market) it is just about as big as the blade and
picks up no water since the mesh lets all the water out, and so you only get
buoyancy on one side and free paddling on the other.

Best Regards,

Rafael.
Mexico
www.mayanseas.com
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