not wild at all.
I often do what I call OTS (out to sea) paddles, where I go out x miles (& return). There are certain ‘fish’ in the sea with bitey habits that occasionally attack kayaks. So if I’m out 20 miles, get a leak in a bulkhead (by fish-bite or running into a unseen - submerged barrel), yes I would need to get out of the boat.
(as far as ‘practice this’, on long trips (summer), sometimes a roll may not be enough to cool off, so I will climb out of yak, swim a bit, climb back in. A re-entry & roll would be easier, but more water gets in boat)
@dc9mm said:
Why waste time practicing rescues if you just learn to roll properly. Sure I can cowboy scramble if I wanted to but I would always just re-enter and roll. If you EVER say you roll can fail then you don’t have a proper roll. I can just float up into a balance brace then from balance brace just slide right up. no real roll required. Us Greenlanders can do this.
There is a quote I distinctly remember, and it was written a while back on paddling.net - “even gods swim”. This was posted as a response to Sean Morely having to swim. Don’t remember the situation, and that doesn’t really matter, as even the best of the best out there swim every once in a while - not just Sean. Maybe more rarely than the rest of us, but they still do.
These folks have multiple types of bulletproof rolls and don’t swim under any normal conditions/situations, but non-normal situations do occur. Especially, when you push things. Often involve one or more of lost/broken paddle, blown skirt, boderline-extreme conditions, etc.
To prevent tragedies, what these “gods” all do is have as many tools in their tool kit as they can. Roll, roll using half a spare paddle off their deck, re-enter and roll, paddlefloat roll, hand roll, etc. ate all great, but they also make sure they know and practice other ways to get back in their boats.
Maybe I should have put it this way. Why spend so much time with rescues when you should spend time on your roll. I can roll up with a ping pong paddle so a broken paddle is no problem. My hand roll may fail BUT you can get pinned in some weird conditions so sure a self rescue is a needed ability as I said I can scramble if ever needed,. I just don’t see ii ever being needed,. Plus re-enter and roll is way faster. Of course there can be some weird exception. Iam saying spend more time on a roll less with rescues. I know this group that spends countless hours with rescues but none can roll reliably. If they set up they can roll, real world they fail. I don’t like to take people out in surf if there like that as they will be swimming to much.
What kind of bitey fish do you have? Am I missing something? Why is “fish” in quotes. If you literally have bitey fish that would bite a hole in your boat, I would be extremely reticent to get out of my boat to fix the bitey “fish” hole. I think instead I would sit in my swamped boat and try to stay upright while awaiting rescue from the CG or any boater within reach of my VHF radio. Oh yeah, and I would also S#&t my pants (or wetsuit or whatever).
not wild at all.
I often do what I call OTS (out to sea) paddles, where I go out x miles (& return). There are certain ‘fish’ in the sea with bitey habits that occasionally attack kayaks. So if I’m out 20 miles, get a leak in a bulkhead (by fish-bite or running into a unseen - submerged barrel), yes I would need to get out of the boat.
(as far as ‘practice this’, on long trips (summer), sometimes a roll may not be enough to cool off, so I will climb out of yak, swim a bit, climb back in. A re-entry & roll would be easier, but more water gets in boat)
Sharks seem to attack carbon fiber boats and paddles. Most near shore. We think it’s the color and pattern. But 20 miles off shore there aren’t any Gators or manatees.
@Monkeyhead said:
What kind of bitey fish do you have? > >
Yes, as Overstreet said, sharks
from experience
have had shark bites puncture the hull (twice)
both were in the rear bulkhead, that I can access from my cockpit - I monitored throughout trip to ensure leak wasn’t too bad (sponging out sufficed)
I would guess it’s probably more dangerous swimming on most beaches (shallow water) than out at sea (though, avoid places there are bait fish jumping around). There are risks involved in anything you do, you can only minimize risk.
That’s crazy!! Do you have pics of the bite marks? How big, and what type do you think the sharks were? Did you see them, did they stick around after the first bite?
@Monkeyhead said:
That’s crazy!! Do you have pics of the bite marks? How big, and what type do you think the sharks were? Did you see them, did they stick around after the first bite?
both were in the dark (pre-dawn), what I could see of the 1st one, didn’t look big.
I think once they find out somethings not tasty, they wonder off.
However, on the first instance, I did have one (same or another) follow me for a while, several minutes after the bite.
If the bite was further forward, the leak would have been in a hatch and not cockpit, so exiting boat to drain or patch the hatch may have been required.
If the bite was further forward, the leak would have been in a hatch and not cockpit, so exiting boat to drain or patch the hatch may have been required.
Less these days, have gotten busy with music. But I try to make a couple of pool sessions before they end in early spring, and when I am in Maine I slap on the helmet and get wet a couple of times a week when it is a light or no major paddle day. Rescue sessions in warmer weather when I can make them, but that has been a while without my having a conflict. It is far easier to take a few minutes for this if you are in a similarly minded group than having to self-motivate unless is is a really hot day.