Reivers Dustin
09/03/15 #17950

I really like group paddles and don't go alone much anymore. But, for many years, long before leashes I went on my own (in the Speedster) and have some stories about that. Over time I've assisted lots and sometimes in big. Once at U.S. Champs a guy ahead of me was messed up. I grabbed the nose of his boat, locked it in my arms, he climbed on, then sped away without a thanks or anything.

Anyway: its very tricky to assist from a surfski. We talked about this years ago and did a practice we called Shrinkage Regatta (you can do a message search in the archives and find the details). We found that if the passenger is cooperative you can haul a person on back reasonably well. One thing that came up for me is where the person in the water is not cooperative. I'm being “PC” when I say it that way. If you are in a surfski, Don't let just anyone climb on your boat. Don't paddle up alongside paddlers you don't have high confidence in. I'm careful to paddle up to the bow where I can apply lots of stabilizing force and brace myself strongly. I can also exit the situation if needed.

Going through these adventures is the main reason I bought a radio. I could not leave a person in distress, but don't want them to drown us both. There are lots of old discussions on here about group dynamics. Long time members might remember that we found erroneous thinking in “safety in numbers”. Be careful about going into the big with someone who might not really be up for it. They don't know how to tell you it's too much. It makes it difficult to shave if you have trouble looking in the mirror. Been there. Didn't like it.

Hate to be repetitive, but there's over 500 members here and not everybody has heard stuff.

rd

Bob Putnam
09/04/15 #17951

To add to Reiver's topic…..

Rescue at The Gorge

With all the talk about rescues and leashes I thought I would share a story about an incident we had a few days prior to the Gorge DW Champs.

A group of us left from Viento to Hood River. My 16 year old son Seth was with us and while he likes surfing waves he doesn’t like to train so he is not that fast. Consequently Seth and I left ahead of the group to get a head start.

Things were going great and we were going through the Salmon Hatchery. The waves getting big, the runs were fast and the wind was cranking. I was barking fatherly coaching advice to Seth, he really likes it when I do this, (not). But he was moving good and linking waves. He caught a beauty but ended up wiping out. He did a quick remount, but made the mistake that I often see people do which is rushing to put his feet foot well, instead of straddling the ski and getting lined up with the runs. Consequently he was beam to the waves, unstable and swam again. The wind grabbed his ski and stretched the leash. Next thing he was yelling at me and his ski was detached and tumbling in my general direction.

I managed to get in the way of the runaway ski and I put my leg into its cockpit. I tried to swing up wind but I could not turn past “beam on”. I was paddling on the downwind side, with an extended paddle, but the wind kept trying to flip Seth’s ski into my lap. Seth was drifting down river with the current, and I was blowing upstream with the 20 knots of wind. Sailboarders were zooming back and forth and Seth was disappearing into the valleys and cresting over the tops of the waves. It was here I was contemplating, on ditching the brand new Think Evo II Elite, and I was weighing the value of ski vs son. Kinda like “Sophia’s Choice”. Fortunately I didn’t have to make that decision as the rest of the group arrived on scene.

Warren, Shane, Daryl and Russ to the rescue. One of the guys maneuvered beside Seth and told him to grab onto the stern handhold, but this wasn’t going to work and creates a potential for serious damage to the hand. Just imagine your hand in a tight handhold with the ski bouncing up and down and trying to catch a wave. I was trying to yell directions but with the wind it was pointless. Shane came by me and I asked him to put Seth on his back deck. It would be like a mosquito landing on the back of a grizzly bear. Shane barely knew Seth was there.

When Shane maneuvered by Seth he climbed on the back deck with his legs dangling in the water. Shane also kept his legs in the water for stability. The only thing that was going wrong here was that Seth was lifting his head high off the deck to see what was going on. I was yelling for him to keep his head on the deck, but again the wind was prevented the message from being sent. This is similar to most of my communication with Seth. “Clean your room” Seth: “ I can’t hear you the wind is too loud”

At this point Daryl pulled alongside me, upwind and put his foot into the cockpit. This made the run away ski easier to handle, and with both of us canoe paddling on our respective sides I think we could have paddled up wind, but by this time Shane was making ground downwind and we intersected. We got Seth back into his ski. Re-attached his leash and we had made a successful rescue. Seth was un-phased and it was back catching waves.

Lessons Learned

Nail your remount As mentioned above often paddlers rush their remount, once your butt is in the bucket you have done the hard work. Take your time getting organized, as you don’t want to end up back in the water.

So why did the leash fail? Look at the photos I uploaded. The Think leash anchor is like a T and it sits in a recess of the cockpit. Seth had attached the leash by wrapping the line around one of the top arms of the T instead of wrapping around the base. When the ski went for a flyer the pressure torqued the T off centre and the rope slid off.

Towing a swimmer in the water is futile. Doing a back deck rescue is much more effective, but is more challenging for the paddler. It is definitely something we should all practice in “conditions”. You don’t want to end up with two swimmers. The behavior of the rescue-ee can affect the outcome too. They should stay low as possible and with legs and arms acting as stabilizers. Easier said than done in rough conditions.

As with most rescue techniques, it never becomes part of your repertoire unless you practice. Its one thing to do a remount on flat-water but can you do it in 3 foot waves where you will really be challenged. Do you know how to wrestle a run-away ski into submission? Its not that hard but until you have practiced you will be less likely to try or be successful in an emergency situation.

Check out these videos Deep Cove Kayak produced with Alex Matthews: Most people want to learn how to remount properly which is covered in the first video. The second video has some good examples of techniques you may require to assist somebody in the water. You may have your own variations, and some of the techniques may vary in effectiveness depending on wave size, wind speed and how good you are at performing the rescue. Build your tool box of rescue resources.

(Editor's note - on our remount page there is a link to the Deep Cove remount video)

How to Remount a Surf Ski - with Alex Matthews

Alex Matthews demonstrates how to remount a surf ski. “As a long time sea kayaker and whitewater paddler, I've got many miles in a kayak under my belt,…

(Editor's note - we include link to Deep Cove remount rescue assist video here)
Assisted Surf Ski Rescues - with Alex Matthews & Bob …
“As a long time sea kayaker, but new and ridiculously stoked convert to surf ski paddling, I seem to have a special interest in making sure that someone around…

debbie natelson
09/04/15 #17957

Once again the Whatcompaddlers group provides invaluable tips and stories. Bob – very glad your son was rescued so successfully - with the only residual of great story fodder and super safety lessons. Teenagers are so unphased. But what a tale. Even more reinforcement for paddling in groups – your rescue squad. (and why I feel I am really missing out living down here with seemingly no other surfski paddlers).

Thanks for the post (with its happy ending story) - and helpful videos. These are always great. Time to practice more remounts.

Debbie N