Assisted rescue of tandem sea kayak

Advice
#1

Thanks to numerous classes, I’m comfortable rescuing an out-of-boat paddler using the T-rescue. But what about a tandem? Is it possible to empty both cockpits given the length of a tandem? If so, with two in the water who would get back in first?

Looked around the interwebs but only found one video from Australia, and that was in a pool with a guy standing at the bow pretending he was a kayak. All he did was flip it up and empty the cockpits. Not very enlightening.

Curious about the procedure. Thanks.

#2

Just to ask, have you tried working w a canoe? Last time l did it with a canoe l pulled it nearly its full length over my boat to empty it out. Tandem may be a similar issue if you want to use similar technique. Though you may find suggestions that take advantage of having a second paddler.

Only comment on that from my time w the canoes on this, hauling something that long and heavy is going to feel like a bit of a stability challenge for someone who is smaller. Especially if in a smaller persons boat. Might be a better approach for you to find a way to mix techniques so that tandam paddler number 1 helps with tandem paddler number 2 at some point.

#3

My Unity tandem would be done the same as a solo. Pull the bow up and tip. It has full bulkheads isolating the cockpits.
It’s more weight, so if necessary, you could probably have the swimmers assist in tipping it up.
We’ve capsized and swam a couple of times. Without assistance of another kayaker, I got on the opposite side of the front cockpit and stabilized the boat while my partner heal-hooked back into her cockpit. I then scrambled up on the deck and re-entered, with her able to brace if necessary. There was some water to pump, but it really wasn’t too bad.

#4

@Celia. Have never done a canoe rescue. Last rescue involved a 17-foot Necky RM full of water and a paddler twice my weight. I was glad I had added a lot of upper body strength training to my workout routine.

@CapeFear Was hoping you’d comment. Is there any particular protocol as to which swimmer should re-enter first if doing a T-rescue with a tandem? Does it make any difference?

Thanks to you both.

#5

I do rescue tandem sea kayaks from time to time on tours I lead (about once or twice a year). You are doing basically the same T-rescue as a single, but the boat is much more heavy, so can be more challenging to get across your boat to drain. Assuming it has a bulkhead behind the rear seat (or better yet, behind both), the draining works the same.

On going back in - for assisted doesn’t matter who goes in first. The doubles often have decks that are higher up out of the water than a single, so the swimmer climbing back up can be a bit more challenging. Heal hook method may help.

An un-assisted double rescue can be done without a paddle float. One person does their best to balance the boat (from the water) while the second gets in. Then the one in the boat braces or otherwise balances for the other person to now get in.

#6

As with most water-emptying procedure you can force the stern down which helps raise the bow, With two people this makes emptying less stressful. Once the water is drained,normal re-entry and pumping procedures finish the job enough to stabilize the kayak.

#7

Hey Rookie, helping other folks is great… how is your roll coming along?

#8

Just another thought, the first thing I would assess is the skill of the two folks who were paddling the tandem. If that are just tourists first time in a boat you will be back to basics. But the couples I know who paddle tandems by preference have also usually worked on rescues per the technique described by Peter-CA. In that case you may only need to provide minimal assistance.

You absolutely should try to do what Peter-CA described, but be one of the swimmers yourself in a tandem unassisted rescue. Works in a tandem kayak or in a canoe. I was floored how easy it was the first time I did this with Jim. He outweighed me by 60 pounds at the time. I got in first with him holding the canoe. Then I sculled, wedged and leaning out from the bow of the canoe to balance him getting in. The coach had to tell me to stop. It had been so easy that I never felt his weight coming into the canoe.

If you can do this yourself you will be in a lot better position to help others. You will understand what is going on with the other boat.

As to lifting the boat, what you should be doing especially at the size we are is getting as much water as possible out of the other boat first BY ANY MEANS POSSIBLE. To break the suction, that may mean flipping it upright as a starting position. (ask the swimmers to help.) Then roll it on its side as you start bringing it over your boat. And edge your own boat to help as you start moving the other boat out of the water., don’t just lift it. As long as you have hold of the other boat, you can edge the hell out of your own boat and you will not go over.

You probably need to pass the entire length of the tandem over your own boat to get both cockpits emptied, same as a canoe. But it is just doing the same thing on both sides. Once you have the boat solidly moving out of the water it’s not big deal.

One of my major departure points from the BCU was when they insisted on co-mingling canoes and kayaks to move ahead in the awards. It was a dumb idea but worse was they enforced it inconsistently and as a result unfairly. But I did walk away from some of the rescue work with a conviction that all kayakers should also know how to do rescues with a canoe. It is excellent practice and can translate to other situations like tandem sea kayaks. BTW, I am not including the fully open rec tandems, I have been with others trying to rescue one of them. Happily is was a practice session because frankly nothing worked.

#9

__Celia…wrote… “BTW, I am not including the fully open rec tandems, I have been with others trying to rescue one of them. Happily is was a practice session because frankly nothing worked.”

Saturday we held an assisted rescue day at the canoe club. I took a solo canoe instead of the kayak. The canoes didn’t show so I was assigned to do a rescue on a single rec boat with big WIDE cockpit and no bulkheads. Nothing worked on a full capsized flooded single. A tandem…?

My prediction is towing paddler to shore and/or later towing the boat there would be easier.

#10

@Overstreet said:
I was assigned to do a rescue on a single rec boat with big WIDE cockpit and no bulkheads. Nothing worked on a full capsized flooded single. A tandem…?

I have sometimes practised emptying a sea kayak with all hatches open and flooded. It is doable if you put it parallel to your own kayak, turn it on its side and slowly lift it out of the water so all compartments can drain. As long as you lift slowly enough, you are not lifting water.

Would that be feasible with a rec. kayak too?

#11

On the subject of who enters first, it would depend for me. In assisted, it shouldn’t matter much. But if you have a smaller person, and a bigger person, I’d want to stabilize for the smaller person entering first, and then I’d have help stabilizing for the larger person. This is assuming equal ability.
Ability-wise, I can scramble up easily enough. As such, I’ve always chosen to stabilize the boat from the water for the other person to re-enter first. In waves, I’ve stabilized from the bow and kept the bow aiming into the waves. Then I’ve asked the first person to maintain that orientation from inside the boat with their paddle as I scramble in.
In assisted in waves, I would want the person who I could depend upon the most to keep that bow pointed into the waves, to stay in the water at the bow and do just that until the first person gets in.
As waves get steeper/whitecapped/breaking, the utility of keeping the bow slicing perpendicular into the waves increases.
So I guess for me it’s much more situational than following a particular protocol, other than keeping the kayak facing into waves.

#12

@“Allan Olesen” Float bags stuck into a rec boat on the water tend to pop out, even if you get some in there. And the huge cockpit tandem rec baots like I meant don’t actually have enough deck to hold a bag.
I am familiar with that maneuver for a sea kayak with smaller hatches and bulkeads. Time consuming but given time and enough float bags you could limp home. I tend to blow up my float bags before I launch so that is one less thing to worry about.

As to the emptying part per your description, at my strength I can’t get a really big cockpit rec bag wo float bags maneuvered onto its side alone. Have managed that with another paddler helping.

#13

Really big rec boats require a slow and HIGH horizontal lift. Besides the difficulties of that some of those barges are heavy to begin with.

#14

Just shoving an airbag under the deck is optimistic. It needs to be secured…

3006×5344 2.14 MB
3006×5344 1.9 MB

I have drilled holes and attached to D-rings on the bag. You can glue rings in the boat or drill a lashing hole as in the picture. Leave extra line so you don’t have to fish a line each time.

#15

What are the two people in the water doing all this time ?

My wife and I used to have a big 100 pound 23 foot long Necky Nootka plus tandem expedition sea kayak and used to practice self rescue with both of us in the water.
If it helps I can describe what we did

#16

I had another thought that’s probably worth considering. The Unity has proven to be a fun tandem for us. The cockpits have a bulkhead-sealed compartment between them, with the stern cockpit pushed more towards the stern, and the bow cockpit more towards the bow. That little push further towards the ends means no accidently banging paddles. The funner part is that it also makes bow and stern rudders work pretty well for such a long, straight-tracking hull.
I’ve paddled the Unity solo in stiff winds a couple of times for short distances on play-around days. That empty elevated bow will blow downwind, and no maneuvering stroke from alone in the stern compartment will do anything about it once the wind grabs it. A crazy feeling.
Now to try to bring this back to re-entries. If conditions are such that remaining facing the wind may be useful, and I think this is often more useful than folks realize, I would want to get the bow paddler in first, leaving the empty stern tailing downwind.
There are just so many variables, aren’t there?

#17

@Celia said:

As to lifting the boat, what you should be doing especially at the size we are is getting as much water as possible out of the other boat first BY ANY MEANS POSSIBLE. To break the suction, that may mean flipping it upright as a starting position. Then roll it on its side as you start bringing it over your boat. And edge your own boat to help as you start moving the other boat out of the water., don’t just lift it. As long as you have hold of the other boat, you can edge the hell out of your own boat and you will not go over.

In the symposium classes I’ve attended the rescuee is expected to right their kayak. Obviously if the person is hurt they may not be able to, but that presents other issues to deal with. No reason not to right your own boat and present its bow to your rescuer rather than bobbing around doing nothing.

No lifting. Was taught to slide it on by edging and as it comes up and over, edge in the opposite direction to dump it.

As to canoes, only once this summer have I’ve seen one. A lovely solo canoe in a harbor on Lake Superior.

While it’s likely I’ll never come across tandem paddlers needing a rescue, knowing it can be done with a T-rescue is a plus.

Good comments here.

#18

YES! What JackL said! Taking care of yourself is job one.

#19

@Rookie
Sorry if my comment covered trodden ground, but once in a while you hear of rescue instruction that harkens back to older practices.

I would not expect to see a lot of canoes on Lake Superior compared to inland lakes and rivers. That does not mean anyone is water is wasting their time by earning how to work with them. Just that it is a skill which may have side benefits, like the parts that translate to dealing with tandems.

#20

@Celia said:
@Rookie
Sorry if my comment covered trodden ground, but once in a while you hear of rescue instruction that harkens back to older practices.

I would not expect to see a lot of canoes on Lake Superior compared to inland lakes and rivers. That does not mean anyone is water is wasting their time by earning how to work with them. Just that it is a skill which may have side benefits, like the parts that translate to dealing with tandems.

Agree completely that learning how to work with canoes is worthwhile. If I had that opportunity, I’d jump at it.