Face up!

Skillset: The ‘Face Up’ reentry reduces need for upper body strength in assisted rescues

From the Summer 2010 issue of Coast&Kayak Magazine. Read the entire magazine online.

Positioned between the kayaks, the swimmer drapes an arm over his stern and the rescuer’s bow.
While hanging onto the boats, the swimmer hooks his closest foot into the cockpit of his kayak.
Arching his back and dropping his head to look up, the swimmer hooks his second foot into the boat and lifts his pelvis up onto the stern of his kayak.
He wriggles forward until he is seated over the cockpit, then drops back into his seat.

by Alex Matthews

When I wrote about the assisted stirrup rescue in the Spring 2009 issue I focused on the trouble that some paddlers experience when trying to reenter a kayak from the water. That long and difficult climb back up into the boat can really challenge a swimmer who hasn’t much upper body strength.

While a stirrup is a good option, it does require a dedicated piece of rescue gear (the stirrup itself) and takes longer because the stirrup must be set up before you can use it.

Before you give in to the notion that you can’t make it from the water back into your boat without the use of a stirrup, you should practice a few other reentries that shift emphasis away from upper body strength in favor of technique and a certain amount of suppleness.

The face up reentry starts as so many assisted rescues do: with the

boats parallel to each other but facing in opposite directions, and the rescuer stabilizing the swimmer’s kayak by committing his weight onto its foredeck with an aggressive grip. Paddles can be stowed out of the way under a bungie.

The swimmer positions himself between the two kayaks at the stern of his boat. He now drapes an arm over the end of each kayak, and hooks one leg up into the cockpit of his boat. Next, he swings his second leg up and into the cockpit, arches his back and stretches his head back. This posture will lift his hips and allow him to wriggles back into his seat.

Part of the swimmer’s job in this reentry is to help hold the boats together throughout this maneuver in order to aid in maintaining the raft configuration.

Once back in his kayak the swimmer reattaches his spraydeck, and the rescuer maintains support until both are ready to proceed.

The face up reentry doesn’t require nearly as much explosive upper body power as it does to lunge up from the water onto the stern deck. One drawback to this reentry, however, is the fact that the setup positions the swimmer in between the two kayaks – a potentially dangerous proposition in really rough conditions where the boats might collide together violently.

Regardless of whether you are lifting the bow first in order to empty the capsized kayak, or pumping the boat out after reentry, it’s always good to have more than one option for conquering that “big climb” back up into the seat. It also pays to practice, so be sure to brush up on your reentry techniques, and to try a few new ones – you may even discover a new favorite!

Adapted from “Sea Kayaking Rough Waters” by Alex Matthews available at www.helipress.com. Photos by Rochelle Relyea.