rescue in big waves norway

-- Last Updated: Jan-12-13 4:52 AM EST --

here is another rescue in big heavy conditions. this looks pretty dangerous to me.with the: the surfers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3cdCvKX3p8&feature=youtu.be
one of the guys is knocked over by a big wave and his paddle breaks..so this is the real thing. thanks to the boy that put out the clip. i have paddled with them several times.

interesting

– Last Updated: Jan-12-13 1:09 PM EST –

I watched it, without having closely read your message. Was wondering why they were towing in the surf, but then when I reread your post about broken paddle, it made more sense. Presumably no spare paddle?

Did seem the guy spent a lot of time in the water. Glad he dressed for it.

Those windsurfers were an issue. Seems they should have noticed an upside down kayak and given a little room.

windsurfer
Yes that windsurfer went right over rthe tow line and was pretty close to the man in water.

Armchair analysis …
The waves are breaking but they are spilling, and not steeped walled up boomers, they break and then backing off. I I was in this situation, I would flip the boat upright, lie on the back deck and swim the boat in like a surfboard. He only needs to move the boat 30 yds or so to be out of the major impact zone. Then hang on to the back and ride the whitewash in. I seriously recommend kayakers practicing paddling their craft while lying on the back deck. if a huge wave comes through you can sink the stern, let go and hope for the best. Not much point hanging on a boat in waves and hoping for your friends to come and get clobbered.

Don’t play in the surf
if you can’t handle crashing. The windsurfers probably had some choice words for the kayaker parked in the take off zone,

Yep, that was painful to watch …

The rope wraped around the kayak
Sure looked like an entanglement hazard after he rolled up the second time in the surf with his tow rope wraped around his kayak just in front of him. I second climbing on the back of the kayak rather than waiting.

Conditions were
confused, with lots of rebound waves (clapotis) from the rocks, but otherwise, I would not call these big waves. In fact, I’ve done surf practice with novices in larger waves.



That the water had a lot of rebound waves, however, makes a rescue rather difficult. The cameraman rolled up no fewer than three times and did so pretty easily, so I can’t fault his rolling skill.



I didn’t see the camera on the paddler who lost the paddle, so I have no idea why that paddle broke. It would be nice to have that and see if he was bracing or trying to roll up. If rolling, there may be a technique issue there (or an old paddle :)), since it doesn’t take that much force to roll or brace a boat.



Once the paddle failed, all bets for a reasonable rescue got a lot more difficult. As pointed out already, it would have been nice if at least one of them had a backup paddle.



I would love to take the moral high-ground, but I can’t since there were times I didn’t carry a backup paddle, either.



Damn.



Rick

hehe…
look at those waves where you see the kayak frtom a distance. kayak looks small. so i dont know. id say they are pretty big…

Well…
When the entire length of my 17’ boat can sit on the face of the wave and there is wave both below and above, that’s a bit of a wave. Now, I’ve only done that a few times and didn’t stay out long, but when paddling in an ocean storm, you sometimes exceed your comfort level.



Many of these see to be about 4-6 feet trough-crest and that is pretty much what I normally see when paddling and/or practicing in surf in Monterey. A couple are much larger, nearly the length of the boat in one set (at about the 3:40-4:00). There is really good sized wave at the 4:55 mark of the film where the wave is nearly the length of the boat trough-crest. I don’t know these boats, but they don’t seem to be a lot shorter than the 17’ boat I typically use. Those were exceptionally large and there were long periods of surf that were much smaller.



One of the major advantages I see in the video is that you don’t get the dumping surf you usually see in Monterey since the shore dropoff doesn’t seem quite as dramatic. Paddling in through high dumping surf is best avoided, IMO. It may be exhilarating, but it’s all too brief to be a lot of fun and collecting rocks in your gear is overrated :).



I might add the paddler did a really nice job of keeping his elbows in when bracing. Nice strong high braces at the 8-9 minute mark after a good roll.



Rick

Waves …

– Last Updated: Jan-13-13 7:56 PM EST –

It looks like the waves are rolling through a channel between small rocky islands. I think på norsk er de "holmer" ikke sant? There is a deeper channel you can tell and a reef coming out from one of the rocky banks, because the complex shore line you get reflections too. It looks pretty gnarly but actually I bet is a fun place to play since the waves start to break moving over the reef but move into deeper water and back off. Looks like some current action too because it's in a channel .. There were two large swells there but they did not break full on. This appears to be a popular surf spot, so the kayakers should have been better prepared for getting out of the way. A paddle leash as mentioned might have been helpful (or maybe that is how he broke his paddle ;).


Wanna surf has a map of the area but not clear where these guys were.

http://www.wannasurf.com/spot/Europe/Norway/saltstein/index.html

yes. this place
is called saltstein, and its one of southeast norways most heavy beaches since the waves can come in directly with a long fetch. I agree that the waves might not have been the most difficult(dangerous. I belive the guys where taken a bit by surprise, and when they posted the clip they also asked for suggestions as to what they could have done better.

personally i think i at least would have tried to get back in with a quick cowboy entry and one of the other reserve paddles.

The most scary thing as i see it was the surfers and ropes. all in all it went well and im sure they learned a lot. thanks again to the folks that put it out…

Nice Ideas
I never thought about paddling the kayak like a surfboard while laying on the back deck. I’ll have to fill it with water and try that at the pool this winter.



I think it is great when people are willing to share their experiences when things don’t go perfectly.

agree…
id like to see some of those big ocean stormwaves in a clip one day. stuff like that is facinating. I have befriended a pilotboat driver, so perhaps one day i can bring a kayak in the pilotboat.

so many options
with a spare paddle:

cowboy self rescue

re-enter and roll

without a spare paddle:

back deck assisted rescue,

back deck self rescue

toggle tow out of surf zone



The guy with the camera facing him is asking for a shoulder dislocation with that bracing technique. Elbows in tight! And getting down wave from a loose boat is a good way to get nailed.

Those waves were a perfect size and shape for surfing.

solo back deck
Here’s a pic of a student ‘riding’ his boat in like a surfboard a couple of weeks ago in a surf class taught by rogue wave adventures in Washington.

http://www.roguewaveadventures.com/



https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/165090_585079188176331_682964107_n.jpg

in my opinion
The only good rescue in the surf is a self rescue, and towing is a recipe for disaster!



As mentioned ride the boat in, everyone else steer clear. They did alright though despite the towing and being downwave of the rescue in progress.



You make mistakes and you learn from them.



At least they’re getting after it.

^good advice

was the sailboarder coming to help?
Or just oblivious to the whole thing?

The sailboarder
The intentions of the sailboarder were unclear, but he could easy have taken the swimmer to shore more quickly and safely than the kayakers could.



Rescue from any third party is contingent on a few things, mainly the ability to recognize there is a danger, followed by the training to plan, execute, and follow up on the rescue should first aid be needed. We can’t assume the boarder had the ability to recognize that there was a “problem” no matter how obvious it was to other observers (us).



Even then, without the ability to understand what to do, he’d need to be trained on the spot to execute the rescue. Because of the sail and the need to restart from in the water, while both people try to balance and work the sail, this may be more difficult than I first imagined and not something the boarder could execute cleanly. It could perhaps be done if the rescued individual was laying atop or astride the board, but even that would make it more difficult to balance and perform a rescue.



I’ve never seen a rescue done with a sailboard, though it looks like it should be possible after a few rather ugly start attempts.



Rick