Re: [Paddlewise] Which types of boats?

On Fri, 10 Oct 2008 22:57:54 -0700, "Doug Lloyd" <douglloyd_at_shaw.ca>
said:

> > Kirk,
> > I am getting mixed advice on the ease of getting back on a surf ski. 
> > There have been several local reports of experienced skiers who could not 
> > remount in rough waters and had to be rescued.  Can you really easily and 
> > reliably climb back on in at least moderately windy and rough conditions?

Remounting a surf ski definitely takes practice.

The most difficult remount that I did was in the surf zone, with waves
with six foot plus faces and about 8 seconds between waves.

My remount is to point the bow into the most significant oncoming waves,
tip the boat on edge, jump across the boat and sit side saddle in the
seat, then sculling on the side opposite my feet, swing one leg into
position and start paddling.   That's on my 17" beam round bottom boat.

With a wider boat you can kick up onto the boat, place your paddle
across the foot straps, then holding both footstraps pull yourself up
and sit "cowboy style" with legs straddling the boat,  You can then
start paddling with both legs in the water - the sides on my mako
millenium are too high for this so I prefer to mount side saddle.

For higher wind conditions I'm told that it works best to have the stern
into the wind, I haven't had enough difficulty when remounting to turn
the boat downwind versus upwind.

Difficulty in remounting a surf ski is very dependent on the hull design
- a combination of how high the sides are and how tippy the boat is when
at rest.  My wife's Fenn XT has low sides, when in the water next to
that boat you can lean the hull and put water into the cockpit,
remounting is simple as the boat almost scoops you up when you slide
into the seat.  My Mako Millenium has high sides and a round bottom, the
only remount I can do consistantly is a side saddle remount.  My old
futura carrera I would do cowboy remounts on - the rear deck was almost
flush to the water.  I could comfortably remount the carrera in under 5
seconds.

As with rolling an experienced paddler doesn't necessarily mean the
paddler is an expert at rolling/remounting.  Earlier this summer of the
best local paddlers tipped over in a Rhode Island race.  He hadn't
tipped over, or practiced remounts for several years, so it took him
five plus minutes to get back on the boat.  He was a little fatigued
when he tipped over and multiple remount attempts did not help.

Kirk
-- 
  Kirk Olsen
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