The Rescue Toolbox

Rescues, reentries, rescuer, swimmer, victim, etc...
I want to tackle two topics in this post; The aforementioned toolbox and terminology and in that order.

We all have things that are near and dear to our hearts; topics which we rant about ceaselessly, testing the forbearance of friends and family alike.  For instance grounding and bonding of electrical components and raceways, politics (I'm far to the left but no pacifist) and kayaking safety.  Fortunately for many of you I will leave out the first two topics (the first probably makes no sense to many of you) and focus on a particular component of kayaking safety; rescues.  Not reentries; no mushy language here, but rescues, both self and assisted.


Many people plan on paddling alone when they buy their first kayak, which flies in thee face of basic back country safety.  Many of these new paddlers receive no basic safety training and no recommendations as to where to acquire it.  They launch, wearing shorts and a t-shirt and all say the same thing when the inappropriate nature of their attire is brought to their attention "I'm not planning on tipping over." is their response.  Well, who of us plans on tipping over?  Capsizing is one of the inherent risks of this activity and can happen on flat water, especially to new kayaker's who don't have even basic training.  After all, shit happens.
Point Wilson Rescue

  Self Rescue
Conventional wisdom is to not paddle by yourself.  Acknowledging that we do, if you paddle by yourself you should stay well within the comfort/skill envelope.  That said, capsizes do happen.  What do you do? In my classes for rescue there is a strict order of precedence

1. Roll up
2. Bow rescue 
3. T-rescue
4. Reenter and roll or some variant
5. Scramble Rescue
6. Paddlefloat rescue

TO get into this a bit further and to stay on self rescue, you may be wondering why rolling is in this list at all.  Rolling is the first line of defense, if you possess that skill.  It is a form of self rescue since it's all about reasserting control after losing control i.e. capsizing.  It is such a fast and fluid method of self rescue and seems so effortless after practicing it that it's not always viewed as a means of self rescue, but if that's the case then why is it appended onto the reenter and roll?  If you don't have a roll - and many sea kayakers don't (see post #1) - you immediately have to move down the list to scramble or paddlefloat (remember your alone so T-rescue isn't possible).  The scramble is possible in limited dynamic conditions but should be considered unreliable.  This leaves the paddlefloat.

The paddlefloat is a solid method of self rescue but is time consuming, tiring and leaves you in the water for more time than I would prefer.  It will also, with assiduous practice, get you out of the water and back into your boat.  This method of self rescue is advocated by the ACA but not the BCU.  I don't know why that is precisely.  My only tip here is to think about where your head is; where the head goes the body will follow right?  So put that head out over the outrigger formed by the paddle/paddlefloat.  If you put your weight opposite the outrigger you'll make the yellow rainbow.  Perhaps one more tip; PRACTICE!!!  Especially if this is your go to means of self rescue.  Practice it in flat water, practice it in wind, waves, current...practice it in the worst conditions that you can imagine yourself paddling because that is where you'll need it!  Incidentally, this is why people learn to roll and why you should never paddle alone or practice alone.

  Assisted Rescues:
These are exactly what they sound like.  Another paddler is assisting you in emptying your boat and getting you back in it.  These are many and varied and all have one thing in common, getting you back in you boat and underway as quickly and efficiently as possible.  These also require practice.  You'll find that if you practice with your usual paddling companions that even the T- rescue with a full load of water can be emptied in less than a minute.  This is also one of the things that separates a group of paddlers from a team of paddlers who watch each other and know how to make things happen.

One of the cool things about rescues is that you can adapt them.  One of my favorites is the reenter bow rescue.  Part self rescue and part assisted rescue and it requires practice (notice a theme in rescues yet?)  This rescue is great for close-in work around cliffs and rocks where you need to get the swimmer in the boat and out of the area pronto.  There is no fooling around with flopping boats around to empty them, it's just get in, get out and contact tow or paddle out.

A final word about rescues; Think about where you are and how you position yourself.  Are you in a place where emptying the boat is practical or safe?  Are you better off doing it in the main current or getting into the eddy and emptying it?  Use your head and don't get into the habit of just doing it by rote.

Terminology:
 One of the groups I've associated with in the past was insistent that we discontinue use of the words "rescue" and "victim" and substitute "reentry" and "swimmer".  I can understand that with victim...sometimes.  But the softening the language implies that the situation is not as serious as it is.  I can reenter my boat any time I want but when I eat it in the surge along a cliff, perhaps in a cave I need a rescue, not just my buddy poking along to give me a hand but a teammate that recognizes the situation  for what it is and rushing in to gain control of it.