[Paddlewise] A reminder to use the right gear ( or thanks for the rescue).

I did my usual weekend paddle this morning.  We headed out of water
street in beverly mass.  The wind was blowing from the south west so we
headed up the coast, straight downwind, to Misery Island.

One of the guys is new this season.  He was a flatwater kayak racer, but
we've been introducing him to the "pleasures" of open water paddling.

Surf ski's are great fun in downwind conditions, and today we had them. 
I'm not good at wind speed estimates - regular whitecaps with some blow
off of the tops of the foam.  Periodic whistling sounds from the
adjustment ferrule on the paddle shaft.

As we left the harbor a passing motor boater commented we might not want
to go too far as the return trip, into the wind, would be a chore.

Jim suggested we go to hospital point and sample the head wind with a
short return trip.  Mike wanted to do a straight downwind run to Misery
Island (he had done a 15 mile "island tour" the day before with stronger
winds).  We compromised and headed for black rock by Endicott college.  

The "new guy" went over just past hospital point and quickly remounted.

A couple hundred yards short of black rock he went in again.  This time
there was a problem.  His 25 pound boat got parallel to the wind and
waves, then started to tumble along the surface.  He swam after the boat
but it was tumbling faster than he could swim (with his pfd on).  The
wind was strong enough that the boat would occasionally end up airborn
as it tumbled over the waves.   I paddled over and got on the upwind
side of his tumbling boat, but his boat is tall, and mine is short, so
that didn't have any effect, the boat took a couple more tumbles.

At that point I saw a family lobster boat headed our way ( basically an
open whaler with a hoist on the side).  The boat was headed straight at
the surf ski to stop it's tumbling.  I yelled to them to be careful, if
they hit the ski broadside it would split it in half.  The "family" on
the double diamond (the name of the boat) did a fantastic job, 2 young
men, one on each side of the bow, intercepted the tumbling ski and
brought it alongside.  The "new guy" swam up the the motor boat and
climbed aboard.  The boat owner asked if he wanted a ride to shore or if
he wanted to return to his boat.  He opted to return to his boat.

On my recommendation they worked the surf ski around to the downwind
side of the boat.  The "new guy" climbed into his ski.  The boat driver
asked about giving him a rope to tie him to the boat ( the paddle/boat
leash which was the missing - but critical piece of equipment ).  I
asked if they had about 5 feet of rope.  He said he didn't have anything
that long, and proceeded to take a 15 foot section of rope from one of
his bumpers.

The new guy lashed one end of the rope to his vest, the other to one of
the rudder lines.  At this point the motor boat pulled away, and the new
guy started his trip to shore to regroup.

We were only 150 yards off shore so he was comfortable paddling into
shore and getting readjusted.

Two of the other guys returned to their downwind run, and to "find" Mike
who opted for a solo run down the middle of the bay and had missed the
whole swim/rescue.

After a brief rest we headed back upwind.  Twice on the way upwind we
turned around and did a brief downwind run - just to enjoy a little bit
of wave riding.

So lessons learned.  

Remember, and use your paddle or ankle leash if you are paddling in
winds strong enough to tumble your boat, if you exit.  

I need to figure out how to stop a tumbling boat, without damaging it...

I've practiced towing a swimmer, with my surf ski, I knew we could get
the swimmer to shore.

The "new guy" wasn't concerned for his own safety, he could easily swim
to shore from where he went in, he was primarily concerned about where
his new boat was going to get blown ashore.

Kirk
-- 
  Kirk Olsen
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