Above: a rescue local skills sessions participants experiment with here on the US East Coast before winter renders air and water temps too cold to be fooling around with unfamiliar moves.
Sea kayakers pull of a lot wacky stunts in local pools during winter: standing in their cockpits, paddling while standing, having chicken fights.
Practicing and refining such rescues as the unconscious paddler bow-roll and hand-of-god does a fine job, I think, of combining old fashioned horseplay with modern-day hard-nosed rescue skills.
When I began to learn sea kayaking skills, most everyone practiced with assured diligence the Eskimo rescue.
Most know the rescue. You capsize. You can't roll. You hang upside down within your kayak, reach up with your hands, thump the sides of your hull to set off an audible alarm, then wave your hands around while you wait for a diligent and nimble fellow paddler to pivot and offer their bow.
You then Braille the bow before hooking it with both hands and levering yourself upright.
The rescue is essentially passive, at least on the victim's part, and hopeful as well. Most kayak groups become spread out so far apart that few participants remain close enough to one another to pull the rescue off.
That alone pretty much renders the Eskimo rescue useful only to tightly-knit groups taking their lumps together in rock gardens, or in groups where everyone stays close to everyone else to keep an eye on who capsizes first.
Most know the rescue. You capsize. You can't roll. You hang upside down within your kayak, reach up with your hands, thump the sides of your hull to set off an audible alarm, then wave your hands around while you wait for a diligent and nimble fellow paddler to pivot and offer their bow.
You then Braille the bow before hooking it with both hands and levering yourself upright.
The rescue is essentially passive, at least on the victim's part, and hopeful as well. Most kayak groups become spread out so far apart that few participants remain close enough to one another to pull the rescue off.
That alone pretty much renders the Eskimo rescue useful only to tightly-knit groups taking their lumps together in rock gardens, or in groups where everyone stays close to everyone else to keep an eye on who capsizes first.
Artificial settings, or skills sessions, in other words.
For newbies, the Eskimo rescue does teach the crucial awareness that sea kayakers are dependent upon one another after capsizes and in rough water.
In the assisted stay-in-your boat rescue department, there are alternatives to the vitim's passiveness in the Eskimo rescue, most notably the rat swim.
But for paddlers who go upside down and are injured or unconscious, a nightmare topside unfolds.
In the assisted stay-in-your boat rescue department, there are alternatives to the vitim's passiveness in the Eskimo rescue, most notably the rat swim.
But for paddlers who go upside down and are injured or unconscious, a nightmare topside unfolds.
Such a case on the East Coast (heart attack, capsize) led to an expensive lawsuit and the testimony of expert witnesses. A middle-aged paddler had a heart attack while paddling with an outfitter. He capsized, swallowed water, and died in his boat.
Liability went against the outfitter, with reasons including the outfitter putting a newbie into a kayak with a tight fitting sprayskirt.
The hand-of-god rescue also came into vogue for a while. The rescue has both a flashy name and look.
Here's a hand-of-god resuce successfully but none-too-efficiently executed: the rescuer uses less leverage than muscle, making the rescue appear difficult for paddlers who have less upper body strength.
But any port in a storm when someone is in a jam upside down. If done right, any paddler can rescue another paddler twice their size with the hand-of-god rescue:
The hand-of-god requires more finesse than strength. The key is to hinge the capsized paddler, by the torso, backwards over his aft deck, using the scruff of his neck (or in other words the collar of his pfd.)
Liability went against the outfitter, with reasons including the outfitter putting a newbie into a kayak with a tight fitting sprayskirt.
The hand-of-god rescue also came into vogue for a while. The rescue has both a flashy name and look.
Here's a hand-of-god resuce successfully but none-too-efficiently executed: the rescuer uses less leverage than muscle, making the rescue appear difficult for paddlers who have less upper body strength.
But any port in a storm when someone is in a jam upside down. If done right, any paddler can rescue another paddler twice their size with the hand-of-god rescue:
The hand-of-god requires more finesse than strength. The key is to hinge the capsized paddler, by the torso, backwards over his aft deck, using the scruff of his neck (or in other words the collar of his pfd.)
Pulling the victim back over the aft deck reduces to close to zero the capsized kayak's righting moment, if you want to get technical.
You then place all your body weight on the capsized kayak's upward gunwale. You then right capsized kayak as easily as rolling a beachball.
The video above combines some but not all of the wistfulness of the Eskimo bow rescue with elements of the T and hand-of-god rescues.
Below: the crux of the bow-roll rescue shown at the top of the post, demonstrated here by a friend standing in the water teaching a never-ever kayaker how to roll (the video's by Matt Johnson, who shot the detailed and helpful free video Making a Greenland Paddle):
copyright 2008 Just Another Guy Named Dave
videos copyright their creators
You then place all your body weight on the capsized kayak's upward gunwale. You then right capsized kayak as easily as rolling a beachball.
The video above combines some but not all of the wistfulness of the Eskimo bow rescue with elements of the T and hand-of-god rescues.
Below: the crux of the bow-roll rescue shown at the top of the post, demonstrated here by a friend standing in the water teaching a never-ever kayaker how to roll (the video's by Matt Johnson, who shot the detailed and helpful free video Making a Greenland Paddle):
copyright 2008 Just Another Guy Named Dave
videos copyright their creators
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