On 21-Jun-2006, !Jones wrote:

then refrain from giving out unsolicited lectures.

Longtime readers of this newsgroup know that there are frequent
questions from beginners of the sort "This happened, what should I do
next" and the correct answer is not "Do this next" but "Don't let that
happen". In other words, it's a _lot_ easier to avoid a problem than
to fix it.

Since avoiding problems and reducing risk are preferred to solving
a problem, we tend to address that - especially for a beginner. Your
question sounded one from a beginner, Steve's response was appropriate
for _this_ newsgroup.

As to using a drogue or sea anchor - the problem with waves is that the
tendancy to broach is strong and a sea anchor only works if there is
significant velocity. Given that the drogue may not work effectively and
you have to deal with lines in the water while swimming, I'd say avoid it.

Your body will work as a drogue without risk due to entanglement in lines.
If, as someone suggested, you hang onto the bow and float vertically in
the water, then that should straighten the kayak if a drogue would. However,
as a recent incident showed. you might not be able to hold onto the kayak
if the waves are strong enough.

Since you can't do this and tend to your paddling partner at the same time,
it is essential that you either find a partner that can self rescue or avoid
these conditions.

Two things:
1 - doubles are not as safe as myth says.
2 - gear is not the solution to a kayaking problem.

Mike

!Jones wrote:
On 21 Jun 2006 07:41:02 -0700, in rec.boats.paddle "Oci-One Kanubi"
wrote:

Forgive me for not answering your actual question, but (perhaps you
might experiment with this suggestion in a strong wind under
otherwise-controlled conditions):

Actually, it's "bang on" my topic. I get the impression that the drag
device isn't in common usage.

The other issue that presented itself in the middle of it all was that
my stoker lacked the upper body strength to pull herself into the
boat. She's in good physical shape; however, handicaps make it
doubtful that she ever *will* do the push-up. For this reason, we
shall stay in calm water; however, we will need to develop a wet entry
technique and practice it. I'm thinking of some kind of a stirrup
where she could get her leg involved.


Well, again, I'm not a kayaker -- least of all a sea-kayaker -- but
consider trying this in a pool or sheltered harbor (do you live
anywhere near the Solent? Now THAT's some calm water to practice in,
off the beach at Alverstoke, say, or Lee-on-Solent, or Lymington).

Rather than have her try to lift herself vertically out of the water
beside the boat, which will present you with quite a challenge in
holding the boat stable, see if she can re-enter by moving to the
stern, grabbong both chines, and pulling herself forward, so that she
straddles the boat with both legs in the water to enhance stability, as
outriggers or a high-wire walker's pole. Once she pulls herself
forward to the rear cockpit there will be a few seconds -- or a minute
or two -- of instability while she sits up, then swings her legs
forward and into the cockpit (perhaps one leg at a time, discussing
with you which leg she will assay first so that you will know which
direction the boat will try to tip).


-Richard, His Kanubic Travesty
--

================================================== ====================
Richard Hopley Winston-Salem, NC, USA
rhopley[at]earthlink[dot]net
Nothing really matters except Boats, Sex, and Rock'n'Roll
rhopley[at]wfubmc[dot]edu
OK, OK; computer programming for scientific research also matters
================================================== ====================

Note inserted text below (in all caps).

Oci-One Kanubi wrote:
!Jones wrote:
On 21 Jun 2006 07:41:02 -0700, in rec.boats.paddle "Oci-One Kanubi"
wrote:

Forgive me for not answering your actual question, but (perhaps you
might experiment with this suggestion in a strong wind under
otherwise-controlled conditions):

Actually, it's "bang on" my topic. I get the impression that the drag
device isn't in common usage.

The other issue that presented itself in the middle of it all was that
my stoker lacked the upper body strength to pull herself into the
boat. She's in good physical shape; however, handicaps make it
doubtful that she ever *will* do the push-up. For this reason, we
shall stay in calm water; however, we will need to develop a wet entry
technique and practice it. I'm thinking of some kind of a stirrup
where she could get her leg involved.


Well, again, I'm not a kayaker -- least of all a sea-kayaker -- but
consider trying this in a pool or sheltered harbor (do you live
anywhere near the Solent? Now THAT's some calm water to practice in,
off the beach at Alverstoke, say, or Lee-on-Solent, or Lymington).

Rather than have her try to lift herself vertically out of the water
beside the boat, which will present you with quite a challenge in
holding the boat stable, see if she can re-enter by moving to the
stern, grabbong both chines, and pulling herself forward, so that she
straddles the boat with both legs in the water to enhance stability, as
outriggers or a high-wire walker's pole,
BUT REMAINING PRONE ON THE BACK DECK AS SHE DOES
SO, TO MAXIMIZE THE STABILITY OF THE WHOLE SITUATION
. Once she pulls herself
forward to the rear cockpit there will be a few seconds -- or a minute
or two -- of instability while she sits up, then swings her legs
forward and into the cockpit (perhaps one leg at a time, discussing
with you which leg she will assay first so that you will know which
direction the boat will try to tip).


-Richard, His Kanubic Travesty
--

================================================== ====================
Richard Hopley Winston-Salem, NC, USA
rhopley[at]earthlink[dot]net
Nothing really matters except Boats, Sex, and Rock'n'Roll
rhopley[at]wfubmc[dot]edu
OK, OK; computer programming for scientific research also matters
================================================== ====================

!Jones wrote in
:

We have a Para-Tech sea anchor that was custom made for our Klepper
double. I contacted Para-Tech some years back, explained what we were
looking for, gave the specs on the Klepper, where we kayak and so forth.
We kayak off all of the Hawaiian islands, Long Island Sound north to
Maine. The Para-Tech sea anchor sits in a small yellow bag to side of
person in front seat of kayak. The bag is about the size of a small
Gatorade bottle. A rope leads from the bag to the bow. To deploy you
simply pull the first few feet of rope out of the bag and drop the bag in
the water. The rest of the rope in the bag comes out as the wind blows
you backwards or sideways. Once the rope goes taunt from the bow to the
bag now in the water, the boat stops moving and the bow is face on to the
wind.

Hawe we used it? Yes. One time in 5 years. Off the Big Island in
Hawaii. Very unusual off-shore wind rapidly went from light breeze to
about 30 knots. As we discovered when we finally made it to the landing,
even the local fishermen on the water were stunned at the rapid and
totally unusual conditions that morning. Two of them had their own boats
capsized and wound up being rescued by the Coast Guard.

Having practiced deploying the sea anchor on a large lake in Connecticut
during windy conditions, deploying it in what we still consider a very
dangerous situation went smoothly. Bow came around, we hunkered down,
and about an hour later when the wind find let up, based on GPS (Garmin
GPSMap 76cs) reading we had been blow seaward about three hundred feet.
Without the sea anchor there would have been no way to prevent us from
being blown seaward a mile or realistically many miles.

Aside from the wind blowing in our faces, the feeling and reality of
being securely anchored to the surface of the sea made cost of the sea
anchor inconsequential. I have read the other posts here regarding
training, etc. You can train all you want but there is no training that
will cover every possible situation that can happen on the sea. Your
seeking further safety information should be responded to rather than
getting responses that have nothing to do with the question. Here's some
quotes which I have collected.

"Evey vessel venturing offshore is a lonely entity, face to face with the
most elemental force on the planet earth." Carleton Mitchell

"The fallacy lies in expecting anything at sea to be as it 'should be'."
Webb Chiles

"The time to tkae measures for a ship's safety is while still able to do
so. Nothing is more dangerous than for a seaman to be grudging in taking
precautions, lest they turn out to have been unnecesary. Safety at sea,
for a thousand years, has depended on exactly the opposite philosophy."
Chester W. Nimitz, Admiral US Navy

--
Big Island Bob