I grew up in Florida
and I have been throw a few summer storms cells. From my experience, I would have to agree with Flatpick.
Paddling kayaks in those winds would be tricky. I will make an assumption here - if you are wondering what to do in those conditions then paddling in those winds would be tricky. Getting out of your boat, clipping in a tow rope, and riding out the storm would be an option - just not a very good option.
It is much easier to hold two (or more) rafted kayaks together than you think. It is simply a matter of technique, not strength - like most things in the kayak world.
how would getting out of your kayak and floating in the water in these conditions “high wind, lightning strikes, hail,horizonal rain, and tight wind chop.15-30 minutes later, it’s just rain and lightning” be any easier than rafting up? And how would being in the water in those conditions be an easier mentally?
“An average paddler will have panic set in,pulse rate 200, cramped arms and back, loss of hope.” - If that is going to happen to you while you are in a boat in those conditions, it will happen to you while you are out of the boat in those conditions.
No offense to G_K, he has a lot of mileage, but most of those miles are in slow moving rivers - which are not likely to experience the effects of the conditions you are describing.
Also, if you are rafted together (and facing each other) you can communicate fairly easily. This makes life a lot better because you can reassure the other paddler, or reassure each other. Two people in the water with tow belts attached to their kayaks would have a hard time communicating and probably staying together.
With the parameters that you gave:
I don’t envision the waves being that monstrous in 15 minutes, so what I would do in my QCC-700 (which I would much rather face high winds and seas in then a brit boat) is just tie the guy off with a twenty foot length of rope, and as the winds approached aim into them.
Oops, I almost forgot; I would reach on the deck behind me and grab my PFD and put it on too.
If I found that it was not working, I would wish that I could stand up so I could put my head between my legs and kiss my butt goodby.
With all that said; I paddle the Florida Keys almost every day during the winter, and with the accurate forcasts that I can get on my VHF, there would be no excuse for me to be out on a day when that would happen.
cheers,
JackL
advice from flatpick
should be taken very seriously. Each situation is different but I sure as hell woudl be remembering what he said and doing accordingly. Never even thought about droping the skeg on the injured paddlers boat so it leecocks keeping you into the wind.
Flatpick knows his sh*t. You do it your way. I’m doing it his!
Paul
Not trying to make any point
I’m asking for advice in conditions that prevail in Florida. The warm weather and water invites many more new paddlers . I’ve seen people not ready for this situation making bad decisions, unaware of the approaching storm. It’s hard to practice in these conditions because of lightning so advice from people is a good option. 15 minutes is not alot of time to get a group of mixed paddlers ready so thinking it through and advice from others who paddled these conditions is the goal.
Anybody need a Tropical Storm??? Dale
Mixed paddling group too?
This is getting to be a very broad exercise. If you have paddlers that are going to panic rather than try sit it out the best they can, and the stronger paddlers in the group compound the problem by buying into that fear, it seems that a tragic story is almost inevitable. Someone simply has to stay calm and maintain a sense of humor, no matter how they really feel.
Or if you are a scifi fan, Hitchhikers Guide, rule 1: Don’t panic.
I wasn’t kidding about getting ready to roll. In those conditions it is probably going to be necessary for at least a couple of paddlers to be able to so they are ready to help others. If a group has no one able to do that, I suspect that doing an all-in would be worse.
rafting up
I would use the nylon webbing and two carrabiners I always keep on top of my kayak in case I have to do a contact tow. Just hook them under your deck lines so that they are tight and you are good to go
How about a contact tow…
You can keep the boats together with less effort, and have a quick release in case you need it.
I’ve also used mine with a helmet off my stern as an improvised sea anchor in a rafted scenario – a rafted tow in through the surf.
-Tom
got me thinking
if you had line(say the tow line) you could lash your spare paddle parts togather and maybe improvise a drouge
agree with flatpick
raft up using my nylon web contact line–bow to stern with the other boat–one puts their skeg down and then hold on and pray—going into the water on purpose would cause more problems than it would solve–what about all those sharks down there?
rig a contact tow
see link....
1. put on my helmet.
2. make a securite call.
3. grin and ride it out with my injured paddler.
me alone? 1, 2 are the same but 3 is head down wind and surf to where ever it led.
don't know about "best" but there you go.
http://www.nspn.org/forum/index.php?autocom=gallery&req=si&img=358
Nice rafting gizmo
I would definitely go for the raft, and would flip my paddle park under the other boat’s perimeter line - that would keep the raft together with no strain.
If you don’t know what the paddle park is, check the AKT website retail store under “Safety”. It’s simply a line and two carabiners that attach to the deck lines in front of the coaming, with enough line to go from one side to the other and back. Unclip one 'biner, run it under the other boat’s line and back to the far side of your boat again. Holds the boats together for a raft.
Lots of other uses, as well (must admit that I work for AKT - when things are slow around the shop, I make up paddle parks). I am surprised that this handy tool is so uncommon.
Alan
By the way
I’m not trying to sell anything - you can make up your own paddle park easily. Try the Buntline Hitch for the knots.
Cheers, Alan
Stay in The Boat is Correct
In 1981 I was in the Coast Guard practicing surf rescue on a self righting 44 ft. life boat. We were all strapped to the boat taking meat grinders in every direction for training. No wind but serious surf that only the N.W. gets from far out Pacific storms. Well my boat rolled (not planned) and the mast stuck in the rockey bottom. I was on an exhale. While capsized, thoughts of disconnecting my harness danced through my head. The second surf boat was on a ramming mission to right the boat. No panic underwater, just the sound of the diesels and your helmet bouncing on the deck. We righted on our own after 1 minute. Pumped out the engineroom and took her home. Another life boat rolled 7 consecutive times that day off Deoe Bay with all washed overboard.
As you can tell I have cabin fever with T.S Fay stuck over me!!! Dale in Florida
rolling
only an option if you haven’t hooked up a contact tow/raft.
Three step process
In that situation I would:
- Lean forward as far as possible
- Spread my legs to make solid contact with the kayak on each side
- Kiss my butt goodbye
jim
Y’r right. For clarity…
Not clear to me that this person is ready to raft up yet - my last reply was more to his post suggesting several unprepared paddlers out there getting caught in something and likely not having any tows to hook up with.
it’s a contact tow with the
daisy chain taken out of the line.
i don’t use a paddle park with a hard line…did at one point and had the 'biner and hard line break a paddle in big (11-ish) foot surf during a rescue. bad ju-ju all the way around.
i use a paddle leash i made out of some bungie, hog rings, shrink wrap and a wooden ball…i don’t think it’d come even close to holding in big, big water BUT it wouldn’t snap the paddle either.
50 and hanging on
@flatpick: Word!
@sing: It will. It does. Don’t know if I’ve felt 50 mph before, but if Ize gonna, I’d want my ndk… And my Lumpy.
if you run
your paddle park from the outside deck line of one boat and then under the 2 boats to the 2nd boats deck line…what’s to prevent one or both from capsizing? you’ve got a single point of contact on the outside of each boat…either one could capsize to the outside.
by taking the contact tow and rigging it as illustrated, the boats can not capsize unless you loose some rdf’s.
i suppose you could run the contact tow from the inside deck line of boat one, under the outside deck line of boat one and under both boats to come up and under the outside deck line of boat two to attach to the inside deck line of boat two but that’s really the same thing as illustrated only UNDER the boats as opposed to being on top…advantage? dunno, never tried that way and then i’d need a longer daisy chained contact tow.
rig it, try it.
I thought a paddle park
was for parking your paddle (a.k.a. “ugly tubes”)
what you’re describing I call a contact tow