After the mishap of Dec 25, Josi, Sergio and myself went out to practice on the 28th to a small island made of corals and shells 3 miles out in the sea, on a day where water was like a dish, transparent to more than 6 feet and at the perfect temperature. There we practiced rolls, extended and short, rescues assisted and alone, paddlefloat reentry and roll, and had a ball. I was able to perform all my rolls in both forms, and recovered my confidence. By the way the paddlefloat from the company voyageur, small, with only one air bag and a mesh on the other side, allows yo tu make easity a reentry and roll, quickly with little water in the cockpit and to paddle away from the risky zone, impossible with the Seattle sports immense bags. So on Dec 29 my son Gustavo, Josi and myself went out in the surf and decided to practice surfing but also letting ourselves turn over and roll in front of the wave, behind the wave, backwards and sideways. We have decided that surfing practice should be accompanied from now on with rolls in the surf. This time nobody capsized accidentally. Seems like being prepared fir it avoids it. Finally on Dec 30 we took 3 doubles and paddled out, a team of 6 friends of similar skills, to the farthermost island in Veracruz 21.5 kms away for lunch and back, using a gap in between two cold fronts. (about 12 nautical miles, each way). There was a strong easterly current and made us do 5.5 hours overall paddling plus one hour in the island. One of the kayakers did get a heart high pulse and took a pill and had a drop in pressure or dehydration or both, and had to be taken by a rescue boat, of friendly fishermen who were passing by because VHF, Coast Guard notification and cell phone attempt did not work. The Coast Guard is different from other countries and they dont pay much attention to kayakers, so if ever a boat came to help it was well after we were gone. Fortunately there are always fishermen boats in the area who are willing to help for a few pesos. Our friend recovered well with hydrating liquids and rest and he is very well now. Tomorrow we are having a cold front with more than 60 knots winds, so maybe we will not paddle. Happy New Year to everybody. Rafael Mexico *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
Rapheal wrote: <Snip>>>>>By the way the paddlefloat from the company voyageur, small, with only one air bag and a mesh on the other side, allows yo tu make easity a reentry and roll, quickly with little water in the cockpit and to paddle away from the risky zone, impossible with the Seattle sports immense bags.<<<<<<Snip> 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 www.marinerkayaks.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/ ***************************************************************************
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 *************************************************************************** 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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