Getting There Is Half the Battle

April-May 2005

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.
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by Neil Schulman

Practice boat handling in calm and rough conditions to be sure you can get there when the time comes. Here a paddler offers the bow of his boat to assist in righting an overturned kayak.

Okay,” asks Karl, “what part of rescues took us the longest?”

It’s the end of the day we’ve called Splashfest 2005 and four of us have spent hours teaching rescues to about 20 paddlers in calm conditions. One person chimes in almost immediately, “The hardest part seemed to be getting into position.”

She’s right. A lot of assisted rescues hinge more on boat control skills than on the routine of draining the swamped boat and getting the swimmer back in the cockpit. Capsizes tend to happen in rough conditions that can make getting to the swimmer difficult if you’re not confident in maneuvering your boat.

This means that to be proficient at rescues, you have to be able to control your boat well enough to get to someone quickly without becoming a victim yourself. Here are some fun games that will improve your boat control.

FUN WITH TENNIS BALLS

Take two tennis balls and throw them in the water, about three boat lengths apart. Paddle in a figure-8 around the two balls, experimenting with different strokes and boat tilts. Try sweep strokes, bow rudders, drawstrokes, reverse sweeps— every combination you can think of. What maintains the most speed? Gives you the tightest turn? Feels the most stable? ADD SOME WIND Go out in some wind. You want enough wind to make turning your boat upwind and downwind a bit difficult, but still fun. Repeat the same figure-8s. This time, add leaning your body fore and aft to free up the opposite end of the boat and turn the boat upwind or downwind. Which moves work best in wind?

ONE-SIDED STROKES

Now throw the tennis ball ahead of you and to one side. Paddle to the tennis ball and turn around it as tight as you can using only paddle strokes on one side of your boat (the side you’ll want to turn towards).

CAPTURE THE BOW

Get a bunch of your friends on the water. Form a line of boats, each paddler in the push-tow position on the boat behind them in line, alternating sides. You’ll end up with a long line of kayaks, each leaning on the boat behind them. The object is to get to the front of the line as quickly as possible. The person in the back starts it off—and each person starts when the person behind them draws even with their cockpit. You’ll end up with a perpetual race to the front that builds two key rescue skills: aggressive maneuvering, and a fully committed lean onto another boat.

BACK IT UP

I was recently on a downwind run in the Columbia Gorge, with a 35-knot tailwind against current. I was having fun surfing big waves when I heard the telltale splash of a capsize behind me. Rather than mess with turning 180 degrees into a strong wind, I just paddled backwards, and was there in a few seconds.

Being able to control your boat in reverse is a fun skill to practice. On every paddle trip I take, I spend a bit of it paddling backwards to work on my boat control. It’s a blast to play the tennis ball game and Capture-The-Bow, backwards.

MIX IT UP

Spend some time experimenting with the standard T-rescue routine. Are there times when you’d put someone back in their boat without draining it first? Tow them a short distance first to get away from some rocks? Or have the swimmer re-enter underwater and grab your bow for a quick Eskimo rescue?

PRACTICE LIKE YOU PLAY

Dress for it, and go out into some conditions—wind, current, etc. Pick a spot where you can drift for awhile without running into rocks or boat traffic, and start practicing. See how far you drift before the swimmer is back in his boat with the spray skirt on, ready to paddle again. Can you do it faster? What works? What doesn’t?

EVERY DAY IS PLAY DAY

I laugh inwardly when I hear paddlers boast, “I haven’t swum in three years.” Then there’s my friend Steve—a great paddler— who’ll wait until nobody’s looking and then jump out of his boat. It’s his way of getting everyone to look out for each other, and hone rescue skills in real-life situations. Work rescue practices into your day trips, until you’re saying something like “I haven’t swum in three days!”

A general in the American Civil War said, “Battles are won en route.” The same can probably be said of kayak rescues. So get out there and play!