"Oci-One Kanubi" wrote in
oups.com:

John Fereira typed:

[lotsa good advice]


And finally (without questioning the wisdom of the whole operaton --
putting novices in ill-equipped boats in potentially fatal conditions)
I wonder why you cannot use one or two of the other students, who are
still IN their boats, to help.

Good point. I took a rescue skills class at a skills symposium a few years
ago taught by Nigel Dennis (for those that don't know the name he's the
designer and owner of NDK kayaks. The NDK Romany is probably one of the
most popular expedition touring kayaks on the market). In any case, for the
scoop rescue, one paddler would perform the "scoop" of the victim while a
third would help stablize the rescuers boat. The rescue skills class was
quite good in general as it had us perform all kinds of variations that
might be useful under a variety of conditions, including low upper body
strength by the rescuer.

Yeh, sure they are all novice boaters, but typically one or more of
them will be competant and confidant in physical activities, won't
they? Have yer two most confident and stable students raft up, get one
end of the victim boat up on their raft, and then you can paddle about
that assemblage to do whatever must be done.

Again, a good point. During beginners classes I taught the instructor will
only demonstrate once (and if there are two instructors the other acts as
victim). After that the students are walked through rescues of each other.
This is especially useful couples taking the class together as they're most
likely going to be paddling with each other after the class.


But the easiest highly effective solution, if you are working without
spraydecks, is to just two- or three-centimeter (diameter) drain
*holes* through the top deck at each end. Then you don't have to lift
all that weight of water at one time to shift it toward the cockpit;
just lift the downhill end a few millimeters at a time; as long as you
lift the interior waterlevel a hair above the exterior waterlevel, it
will drain.

'Course, if these are multi-use boats which are sometimes used with
speardecks, you will need to install drainplugs rather than just drill
holes. But for yer novice classes, when you must, you can easily reach
beneath a capsized boat to open the plug.

I don't get this.

The goal of the class isn't to perform a successful rescue in the context of
the class setting. The goal of the class is, or at least should be, to
teach a skill that can be practiced, perfected, and called upon when
necessary if it really needed. Unless the students are going to be paddling
similar multi-use boats you can't very well asked them to drill holes in the
decks of their own boats to assist someone else in rescueing them. I don't
think I've ever seen a touring kayak that had drain plugs unless you count
recreational boats (which I don't in the touring category). I've only done
a small amount of whitewater kayaking so I have to ask how often an assisted
deep water rescue is used involving whitewater kayaks in real conditions.
My guess is almost never. Either the whitewater paddler learns how and
employs a roll or they swim, make their way to shore and collect the yard
sale floating down the river as best they can. If another boater is used an
assist for a resuce it's more likely going to be an assisted eskimo rescue
off their bow, or if it's a swimmer, a tow to shore. Furthermore, in the
case of recreational style kayaks that might be equipped with a drain plug
it is rare that you'll also find them equipped with float bags, and thus my
contention is that they should probably not be used further from shore than
one can swim if one insist on paddling in conditions that are likely to
cause a capsize in such a stable boat. Bottom line, assisted rescues skills
as taught in the OP's class are typicaly only going to be used by those
paddling in a sea kayak in deep water. If someone capsizes in a kayak 1/2
mile off shore in cold water it's mandatory that they get back in the boat
and upright and that's what these skills are supposed to teach.

It seems to me that the biggest problem here is the choice of kayaks used
for instruction and the reluctance of the shop to provide an assistant. It
doesn't sound like the boat models used are typical of the kind one would
paddle when an assisted rescue would ever be used. Even an assistant with a
minimal amount of experience but with greater arm strength should have not
trouble demonstrating the techniques. Having the assistant perform the demo
while the primary instructor talks through it would probably be a better
teaching technique anyway.