Paddling Scenarios

April-May 2004

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.
To download a pdf copy of the magazine click here: > DOWNLOAD

Mercia Sixta is an expert in kayak instruction, having trained thousands of paddlers over the many years she’s run the Coast Kayak Symposium, and through her involvement with kayaking clubs.

It was at the Coast Kayak Symposium many years ago that I was introduced to the concept of “scenarios” and, as a former teacher, I recognized it as a useful teaching device.

Mercia uses paddling scenarios as a teaching tool to help less experienced paddlers appreciate what can happen on the water, and how to deal with problems.

She and her instructors utilize scenarios, such as those below, for on-shore classes to provoke discussion about possible strategies or solutions, and they also conduct on-water scenarios in which paddlers are faced with situations to resolve. There’s nothing like an on-water challenge to point out issues and to provide kinesthetic as well as cognitive learning.

Use your own knowledge and experience to think through solutions to the following scenarios. There are no right answers–it’s all up to you!

To sign up for the Coast Kayak Symposium or other events where such classes may be offered, check our Calendar .

By Mercia Sixta

In an emergency, it’s not what you have, but how you use it.

Six paddlers are out for the day. Four of the group are beginners and the other two are of good intermediate ability. The group is well-equipped and all boats have adequate flotation. Early in the day the group rounds a point and suddenly encounters choppy, confused seas.

One of the beginners tips over and bails out. He loses contact with his boat and paddle. Both begin to blow away.

How should the trip leader keep the group safe while rescuing the victim? Split the group and take beginners to shore? Stay together?

•••

You are with a group of four other paddlers out on the NW coast of Vancouver Island. Everyone in the group is an intermediate. You are planning to paddle seven miles south. It has been drizzling and overcast for three days, but the weather is beginning to break. You put in at 0930. By 1100, the sun is out and the wind is up to 15 knots. You are paddling in big swells that seem to grow bigger by the minute. You cross a reef area and suddenly all around you are huge boomers. You are very concerned that a wave may break over you. You’re not sure how to get to shore because the surf is up and it looks treacherous.

What are you going to do, short of paddling to Japan?

•••

You and two friends are on a Sunday paddle from Vancouver’s Jericho Beach to Point Atkinson. It’s late October. One friend dumps and bails out. He can’t roll and conditions are calm enough, so you try a “HI” rescue. His boat has a fair amount of water in it. You haul it up over two paddles and, while emptying it out, one paddle breaks. You try again with the remaining paddles. He then tries to haul himself into his boat but can’t manage it. He’s getting tired and cold. He decides to try a paddle float rescue because that’s what he’s used to. Using the paddle float, your friend successfully hauls himself onto his own deck. But in the process of turning and wriggling down into the boat, his right leg jams awkwardly. He is stuck. He is still prone on the deck, facing the stern, and capsizes again in that position.

What do you do?

•••

You are paddling in a single kayak in the San Juan Islands. With you are two friends, John and Jane, in a double. You are an intermediate paddler, John and Jane are beginners. John is the stronger of the two. On the first morning of this weekend trip, the double is already experiencing difficulty. Jane is a very weak paddler and John is having to do most of the work. He can’t seem to control the boat very well. You head in to shore for a lunch break. Before setting off again, you decide to switch with John. You take the stern of the double and he takes your single. You start a three to four mile crossing over to the next island. Half way across a squall comes up. The wind is fierce. The current is running three to four knots. John is falling farther and farther behind.

What do you do?

© Mercia Sixta works with Western Canoeing and Kayaking in Abbotsford, BC: 1-866-644-8111.