What is everyone’s favorite assisted rescue technique? Does anyone have a good variation they wish to share?
My favorite …
is the one that gets the paddler back in the boat in less than a minute (under 30 seconds preferred). For an assisted rescue that depends on how quickly a rescuer arrives.
Hard question to answer because some people are much more or only proficient at getting back in their boat with one method. You need to practice everything you read about/see and use what works best for you in your boat.
I prefer the roll in. I practice it more often and find it’s easy to do. I also like the ladder. There is nothing wrong with jumping on the back deck and twisting in, but I find that to be slower and more cumbersome.
Re-enter and roll is fast, but you end up with a boat full of water.
Cheers,
~wetzool
good point
whatever works quickly.
I don’t paddle much these days but when I was teaching I did the basic t-rescue with the victim holding my bow so many damn times it’s what I did when folks dumped it. Getting the person back into an empty boat was preferable to full but if the water was cold,getting them in and rafted up to pump out is what happened.
The one where I rescue
the hot Asian porn star in distress and get laid for my efforts!
Probably T rescue
What seems to work quickly and with a broad array of paddlers is a T rescue. I’ve been able to get newbies back in their boat by talking through a T rescue when they have no idea how to get back into their boats.
I find most other assisted rescues are difficult with a rescuee with no prior experience or knowledge.
HOG is useful and quick if the person is still in their boat. Of course an Eskimo bow or paddle shaft rescue is also quick if the person is still in their boat and has a clue.
best rescue
a few years ago i was playing at the local park’n’play spot. some rafts were heading down and i figured mistakenly that i had enough time for one more quick ride in the hole before the flotilla got there. i ended up in the hole a little longer than expected after getting into a side-surf and found myself under a raft. the rafters tried to “help” me out by essentially pushing me back under the raft with their paddles as i was trying to push my boat out from underneath, so i took a swim. as it was a calm pool below the playspot it wasn’t a big deal, and i looked up to see a friend from shore throw me a beer instead of a rope. best rescue ever: i drifted in the water drinking a beer and collecting my gear.
I guess I should have clarified…
what is your favorite ‘fastest’ rescue, or variation, that you use?
Are there any tricks that you know about that make the rescues quicker/smoother/easier?
practice
1. “hold the bow of my boat”
2. grab the bow of theirs and drag it across, flip and dump, slide off and parallel, lay your upper body across their foredeck and hold on.
3. “come around your stern and get in”
4. Commit your entire body to the effort, manage the paddles, ignore the floating crap that wasn’t secured.
Fast rescues
Fastest: roll (unassisted)
Fastest out of boat: re-enter and roll (unassisted, but boat full of water)
Fastest assisted: probably HOG or bow, stern, cockpit presentation
Fastest out of boat assisted (no roll): probably T-rescue with roll in/heel hook or whatever you like to call it.
But …
a lot depends on who is doing the assisted rescue and the competency of the rescuee in being able to get back in. So, practice with whom you regularly paddle with and practice in conditions, not just flat water. Also, practice in cold water.
Tip: In a T-resuce the rescuer edges toward the capsized boat to lower the gunnel and make it easier to get the capsized boat’s bow out of the water on the deck of the rescue boat, then edges away to help lift the capsized boat to drain water. In effect you are using your larger muscle groups to lift the boat rather than your arms.
~wetzool
One word…
… Trobicin.
Should I be carrying condoms in my kit? All I ever seem to get up close to are Manatees - and I’m not hard up enough to mistake them for Mermaids like the Spaniards did. One did seem quite attracted to my gray kayak once though…
Two assisted rescues that I did
One in the Bogey and Bacall race in very rough conditions: simply pulled along parallel to the other guys yak. (he had already uprighted it)- Leaned down very hard on the side of his cockpit and he climbed in from the opposite side.
I handed him my pump and he pumped it out and we were both on our way in all of about a minute.
He did go on to finish in front of me though !
The second one was done the exact same way but in calm water.
Cheers,
JackL
swimmer placement and a new twist
Whenever I’m in larger conditions doing real rescues I want the swimmer right at my cockpit coaming, either in front or behind, and folks argue both positions. I’d rather not have someone holding my bow down in large swell and sometimes breaking waves, particularly when I’m trying to dump their boat. A new twist that I’ve recently learned is for the swimmer to upright their boat after swimming. The rescuer paddles to the bow and pulls the boat up onto their boat, then the swimmer does the flip to dump the boat by grabbing both sides of their cockpit and doing a push/pull move that spins the boat. Sort of takes care of alot of issues in conditions- the rescuer doesn’t have to be unstable while dumping the boat, and the swimmer has something to do and is in a good place to immediately reenter their boat. Cheers-----------------
Hmmm…
Kevin,
Sounds good. I’ll have to give this one a try. Thanks.
Cheers right back at ya!,
~wetzool
Favorite rescue
The Swedish bikini team. VF
otherwise known
as a “reentry and pump”
No, I call it…
assisted rescue
cheers,
JackL
Indeed it is an assisted rescue
– Last Updated: Aug-25-08 2:59 PM EST –
and so is a T-Rescue, Hand of God rescue, a Scoop rescue and an eskimo bow rescue---they are all assisted rescues and the specific kind of rescue you did is a re-entry and pump.
No, it is a plain old …
“assisted rescue” !
You can have all your book stuff, and I’ll take my common sense quick and efficient and self taught “assisted rescue”.
I don’t need to add any other names to it .
You need a pump with any rescue unless the guy is still in the boat, and has his skirt on in which case when you get him up right he will be puking water all over the place instead of pumping it.
I know you like the last word, on every post but I do too!
Cheers,
JackL
T-rescue
– Last Updated: Aug-25-08 10:44 PM EST –
does not need a pump---and is for people who fall out of their boats (skirt comes off)
What they said
… except the smart-ass replies. It depends on the person and conditions. But with someone who knows it I like the heel-hook after emptying the water if you have time or right away if you don’t. Hard to talk someone through if they haven’t practiced, though.
I put the person just in front of the cockpit if the angle is good or just behind if that gets them to my boat faster. Nice if they can flip the boat but don’t mess with it if they don’t know what they are doing.