Surfski Knowledge Base

Kerry Gustafson 11/26/21 #30566
In the full spirit of Thanksgiving, I give thanks for our supportive community of paddlers.

This morning, I launched at 10 am from MP and headed south to do laps. I went out with Kim, Julie, Sue, Denise D, Erica, Dave H. Tom P. Regan, Kelly A, and Brian were already out.

First swim: I was surfing well until small waves turned into small haystacks. I did a low brace and couldn’t save it and swam. Kim waited and checked in.

Second swim: I paddled back upwind, turned and realized a few minutes in that my head wasn’t in it. Not aggressive to get on a wave, not paddling strategically. I told Julie my plan was to head back in to MP. She said she was headed in too.

With my head not in it, I lost Julie. I didn’t take the same line because of the side chop. I looked back to see Kim set back on my hip (keeping an eye on me). Kim caught up to me, I stated my intent to head in due to a lack of focus. Kim paddled with me.

Shortly after, I took a wave on the beam ending up in the water again. After 3-5 attempts Kim instructed me to give her my stern to stabilize my ski. I failed in comprehension as I was overwhelmed (in a good way) by all the OCs who surrounding me and were there to help. Kim cut me off after a few failed attempts. She instructed me to ditch my ski.

Regan took my ski and Kelly grabbed my paddle. It was unsettling to let go of my equipment and unhook my leash. Kim walked me through how to get on the back of her OC and lie prone with my arm on the iakos.

Regan put my ski on her iakos and paddled it in.

I kept hearing different people checking in on Kim to ask if she was warm, needed a break, or help. They checked on me to ensure I was okay. I even heard that Dave H. can serenade with a good round of the Gilligan’s Island theme song.

I went to school today, and came home with an education. I take full responsibility for not having a long tow line. I will be practicing in the event I need to repay the favor one day.

I was dressed for the conditions. Neoprene gloves, boots, and 4:3 wetsuit, PFD, and high viz hat. I learned to work with the rescuer, check in on what I could do better (keeping my feet out of the water, not shifting to the starboard, and staying still). Also, swallowing my pride was hard for me, and yet it was the right instruction. I’ll struggle with that for a bit.

We have a community of pretty fine folks and strong, kick ass women. I have a lot of gratitude and respect for all who were there to help me and for Kim, and the others who supported me today.

I’ve led countless medical emergencies in my career in sports medicine. The clear, decisive, focused voice leading a situation is necessary and is what made today a success.

Thank you, everyone!

David Hooper 11/26/21 #30567
Shoot, Kerry - I'd have sung Gilligan's Island for you, if only I'd known. Or better yet, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, Alice's Restaurant. Of course, then Kim may have ditched you and paddled away as fast as possible. Calm in a storm only goes so far.

Thanks for the synopsis. The tow line is definitely on my “to bring” list as well (though it sure would help if my boat had something to secure it to).

Dave H.

Denise Weeks 11/26/21 #30569
What a great report, Kerry. You make so many good, detailed observations of how it went for you. Thank you for sharing . . . after Duncan’s not-so-subtle pressure to 'fess up. Good details and personal stories are the best way to learn, for sure.

I am wondering about the tow line. After I lost my boat that time, I put a tow line on my list, but then I never got one. Now that I think about it, I’m wondering how safe it would be to tow a boat in anything other than glassy conditions. Wouldn’t the boat you’re towing come crashing up onto you? Would it jerk the towing boat sideways? Like all our other safety maneuvers, I guess it has to be practiced, but it’s a little intimidating and possibly expensive, if the boats got knocked about.

Do others have experience towing a boat in wind and waves? How did it go? How long a line do you use and what are the best connection points? Paul is going to be mad at me if this is already on surfski.wiki, which we should all be reading regularly.

Denise

Paul Reavley 11/26/21 #30570
I haven't found the definitive towing reference so far…

Can we get a Swedish translation?

Here is a surfski towing video from Emma Levemyr in Sweden. They clearly are using a long tow line. And they show one way to connect a line when lacking a rear connection point…Do they mention what they have determined in terms of practicality for towing with a surfski in rougher conditions? How much harder a tow of an unmanned surfski is - when it is flipping, etc.?? Does it make sense to have some elastic connected to the line to reduce jerking?

https://youtu.be/nfdwijnAU-I?t=112

Youtube can generate captions in various languages for videos but I don't know all of variables that determine when viewers can turn on captions or can't.

Reivers Dustin 11/26/21 #30572
I asked Hilde: There are four things shown: side-by-side paddle with feet in the others footwell (Weak paddler or lost paddle). There is shorter towing where one person is weak or slower and the stronger helps pull them (shown - both paddlers upright and paddling). There is the case of a paddler out of the boat who climbs on back on their belly “practice is recommended” (shown). Then there is towing loose boat in rough water. This one they suggest a 10 meter long line sucured to towing boat's footstrap and secured to front end of towed boat. Whoever is presenting this video has the two tow rope systems for sale and suggests that you carry these two if you are in the listed conditions such as group leader, maybe with beginners, something else … argh couldn't write fast enough for the other stuff said. Hilde wasn't as fascinated by this stuff as I was.

She speaks Norwegian, Swedish gets along in Danish, fluent in French and can get by in Spanish and German. She's totally lost when I talk football. But mostly I usually communicate by grunting and pointing.

rd

Kimberly Reeves 11/27/21 #30574
Kerry provides a good report of what happened yesterday. I would like to add a few more observations. On our first upwind going south, I noticed that our merry band of paddlers, seven of us, had begun to separate based on speed and type of craft. All of us began to pair up as we paddled towards Governors.
As we turned, the fast group surfed ahead, and us lesser souls were grouped up and surfing together. The waves were surprisingly good and had a strange mix of mystery haystacks from the west. As we reached the buoy, I noticed that Kerry was no longer on my starboard and I couldn’t see her in my periphery. Throwing my legs over to stop my canoe, I saw that she had dropped back. As I waited for her to paddle up, I realized she should have already reached me. I turned my canoe around and saw the bottom of her hull. As she mentioned, she had gone over in the technical part of the paddle…lots of haystacks. I paddled up to her and made sure she was ok. Kerry remounted and off we went.

On the second lap, I went wide to grab some bigger waves. Kerry had turned before I had and in a very short time I had caught up. That was another signal to me that things weren’t okay. As I looked over I could see that she was struggling and not comfortable in her ski.
I paddled over and we decided to go in…. The rest of the adventure is detailed with her report.

There were a couple of take always for me:

• When we get separated, we need to stop and put eyes on the group. I used to be really good at turning and paddling back to folks behind me….but I have gotten lazy. Time to add that back into my repertoire, especially during the cold months.
• Secondly, Kerry was a rockstar. Cool, calm and did exactly as directed which made the whole affair that much easier.
• And lastly, there were a number of mostly Wahine outriggers surrounding us. I can’t know for sure, but I am guessing this is the first up close rescue they have seen and been part of. Everyone was great. The few instructions I gave to some support folks were followed perfectly. The other paddlers, ski and oc, stayed on our flank as we paddled to shore. No one left the group to grab more waves…and everyone stayed together as we paddled in.

The worst part about the entire affair is that we never got to hear Dave H sing….

Cheers
Kim

Elana Ecker 11/27/21 #30575

Thank you Kerry for the play by play of your experience allowing us to learn from and refresh our responsibility to ourselves and each other when on the water!!

Gosh !! I love this community ❤️

Thankful,
EE

David Hooper 11/27/21 #30576
In addition to all the support of the Wahine on the scene, it's worth noting that not only does Father Flannelly do his best to prevent our paddling souls from heading south, but his suggestion for carrying Kerry's surfski on the iako's of an outrigger helped prevent that surfski from going to hell as well. Regan then implemented deftly.

Two questions:
how did she actually get it on there? I was too busy trying to keep my balance in the chop (without an ama) to witness that part.
does such a maneuver work if you need to haul in an outrigger too? Would you flip it upside down?
Dave H

beau whitehead 11/27/21 #30577
You can also carry an outrigger that way. You just end up with two amas in the water side by side, which is no problem.

Dennis Mowry 11/27/21 #30581
It's looking like rather than surfskis bringing tow ropes for rescues, a better idea would to bring a set of iako's that snap or straps onto the surfski somehow, then attaches the other ends to the boat to be towed, either surfski or oc, single or double, becoming an oversized ama, it might even work with a paddler inside.

How's that for a lipunit of a sentence? Kinda like linking waves.

:D'

David Hooper 11/27/21 #30582
I was thinking similarly, but mostly that rather than bringing a tow rope, every group of surfskiers just always includes an outrigger canoe in their downwinding kit. Evidently, those seem to work ok with paddlers inside, too.

Chris Baker 11/27/21 #30583
I’m a fan of including a oc1 at all times.
Also I’ve been messing with some of the Samson ropes Amsteel stuff.
1/8 inch line that floats and has impressive capacity.

Reivers Dustin 11/27/21 #30584
I saw how effective OC are for rescue from early days. Brian B hauled my eldest girl out of the cold at Bloedel many years ago. There's just no comparison. Great discussion thread. Great lead in by Kerry. There's such a range of abilities here, and Greg B. saving my paddle in the bigs was eye opening for me (probably 25 years ago). But over coffee this morning we remembered a dump and swim of many hours by Greg when he lived on the East coast. (before leashes were common).

The sea eats everything.

Dan Mayhew 11/27/21 #30587
A few years ago Nicholas showed me the tow rope he carries. I immediately made one and always have it in my pfd. My very first run down the Gorge my buddy's rudder came off and I had to pull him to into Drano. They are cheap and easy to make. Might not be the perfect solution, but worth carrying. Here are the instructions (scroll down the page a bit): https://surfski.wiki/safety_gear?s[]=tow&s[]=rope

So glad to hear this story ended well.

Dan

bflannelly50 11/27/21 #30590
Dave-The easiest way to load either a surfski or outrigger onto your boat is: 1)bring both hulls parallel together on your left side 2)Lift the bow over the rear iako and keep sliding it forward till it is balanced on the iakos 3)flip the surfski upside down. Ideally, the forward edge of the ss cockpit will catch on the forward iako. The ss paddle can sit on top of the iakos, wedged between the hulls. As Beau said, an outrigger can be carried upright since the iakos will stick together. The downside of carrying boats this way is you can only paddle on the right side, which Reagan did cheerfully and efficiently. No fuss, no muss, no drama. Well done!
Mind you, getting a pumpkin pie from Costco is much easier. There were a ton of them back in the dairy section, right by the eggs. I never saw the apple or pecan pies.

David Hooper 11/27/21 #30593
Great, thanks!

I thought about a Costco apple pie but they were HUGE. With only 4 people for Tday, we'd still be eating that pie at Christmas.

Duncan Howat 11/27/21 #30594
Dave you could stand to gain at least 30+ , that will sink your boat deeper in the water and make it more stable, although there are two schools on that, some say a higher sitting boat is more stable. I'm trying to picture that. Of course we're talking surfskis here. So I'm going to have to pick one of those pies up for you. I also have discovered a place for old fashion cinnamon rolls, with raisins and the proper dough make up. More on that later. Also I note a power boat in your photo, is that your new one? V-8-V-9 flex boy

David Hooper 11/27/21 #30596
Duncan, I'd happily buy that motor boat if they threw in the house with it. Nope, just acting like a stalker and taking pics through other people's yards.

And I think you're right. If I gain 30 lbs in my belly and butt, that should stabilize my boat, allowing me to paddle harder and go faster. Clearly, I wouldn't want to gain 30 lbs of muscle in my shoulders, arms and chest, because that weight would be too high, and make me unstable, and hence slower. Plus I'd need more steroids than Barry Bonds and Mark McGregor combined.

Are there nuts on those cinnamon rolls too? Now we're talkin'.

Dave H.

Duncan Howat 11/27/21 #30597
Brian, I thought outrigger paddlers only paddled on one side, the right, thats why they walk on land always leaning left. Or is that their preferred political lean? Dave I'll let you know tomorrow on the nuts, I hope so.If they're really good I may offer some for resale. Squirrel Butt