You can empty a canoe with a boat-over-boat rescue in a kayak
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After dewatering the canoe, how do the canoeists reenter? Side support such as a kayak T-rescue?
If it is a tandem canoe, the paddlers may be able to reenter the canoe from opposite sides with practice.
If you are trying to rescue a paddler that has come out of a solo canoe, have them go to the opposite end of the canoe as you haul it inverted over the deck of your kayak just forward of the cockpit. The swimmer can help break the suction on the canoe as it leaves the water and assist you in hauling it across your deck. The canoe will act like a giant outrigger so you can lean on it and it will offer great stability.
As you slide the upright canoe back into the water, the swimmer should stay on the side of the canoe opposite your kayak and assist you in getting it into a position parallel to your kayak. You can then lean on the canoe and allow the opposite gunwale to dip as the swimmer puts their weight on the opposite side during reentry. You then counterbalance them by applying weight to the gunwale on your side.
Because there are no decks to trap water inside, it is easier to empty a canoe than a kayak with a boat over boat rescue.
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I have reached over from a kayak and stabilized one side of the now emptied canoe while the swimmer got into the canoe from the other side. Pretty easy if the swimmer gats in fairly quickly. If the person takes a while to get in you can bump into problems in a canoe wo float bags. But if they just get themselves in wo fuss it works well.
Note on dewatering a canoe. For canoes, you have to pass pretty much the full length of the canoe over your boat, not just upper half like a sea kayak.
It is quite doable, though note that trying this with a 18 long heavy composite canoe while being in an Inazone 220 will probably test your own balance. And have you a bit under water in the middle. But it works.
pblanc & celia: thanks for your descriptions. Your guidance makes sense thanks to lots of kayak rescues, both in training and real. No doubt one day I will paddle upon an overturned canoeist in open water. Need to find someone with a canoe to practice this new-to-me rescue.
There is a post about that - from 2017…
There are some pictures from a prior RICKA practice session with a kayaker emptying and helping me reenter my solo canoe - not pretty but I get in. No much different than going through the process with a kayak.
Process is of emptying the boat is the same with a tandem canoe - the boat is just bigger. Pull it up on to your deck on edge so you are not pulling up the water and get the paddlers that you are rescuing to help. With the boat empty you can hold the gunwale and they can reenter one at a time, or they could try getting in together one on each side.
Does this harm the wood gunwales?
Not that I have noticed, but the wood gunwales on my boat are not particularly well maintained. 
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The drill that we always used in training for boat-over-boat rescues where a tandem canoe was being rescued regardless of whether the rescue boat was a canoe or kayak was as follows:
One swimmer, usually the stronger would stay at the stern of the capsized tandem helping to get it into a perpendicular location to the rescue boat and help maintain it in that orientation. For a rescue in current or wind that was sometimes difficult for the person(s) in the rescue boat to do having access only to one end of the capsized boat.
Meanwhile the other swimmer would go to one end of the rescue boat and hold on. That would be the upstream end in current and the upwind end in wind. Sometimes that swimmer would also have a couple of paddles to hold onto.
The swimmer at the end of the capsized tandem would push down firmly on the far end of the capsized canoe to assist the rescue boater to lift the canoe over their gunwales or deck. That would also help break the suction that sometimes wanted to hold the upside-down canoe in the water. It is actually easier to lift the bow of an inverted canoe over the deck of a kayak than over the gunwales of a canoe.
The swimmer at the end of the boat remained in contact with it as the rescuer(s) slid it back into the water and helped to get the emptied boat into parallel alignment with the rescue boat ready for reentry.
As pblanc has described so far. After the canoe is emptied of water, it is flipped back to upright and slid back onto the water surface, making it parallel to the rescue canoe. A rescuer will lift on the closest gunwale to lower the far gunwale to just above water level, making it easier for a swimmer to enter. Then with a strong kick the rescuee will flip over the gunwale as the rescuer pushes down, essentially scooping the swimmer into the canoe in one coordinated easy motion. The second swimmer can enter similarly, or with the assistance of the first.
I have been an instructor of a training program for adult (usually college age) BSA wilderness high adventure trek leader guides in the Adirondacks for 30 years. During initial training, I usually narrate the process as fellow instructors go through demonstration steps. Afterward I ask the important questions of “how did this happen in the first place?” Were you guiding totally inexperienced young scouts who were not doing as they should? Was the weather/wind too much for their skill level? How far from shore were you? Why so far out?
This is also where the concept of tying or not tying in gear comes up. Imagine trying to untie wet tightly knottted ropes (or thin paracord) while under an overturned canoe before it can be righted and rescued. I tell them to at most clip the hip belt around a thwart. I have heard young scouts tell me that their packs are so heavy they would sink, where upon I would throw my heavy pack in to show that it floats 95% above the water line. If windy, let it go away, retrieve it later. Unlike when in wilderness heavy river current were the advice is to keep necessary survival gear (that which is not carried directly on my person) secured with the boat, which is what I do when paddling on the Yukon River.
Each trek leader candidate student will have the chance in the next couple of days of days of field instruction and evaluation to practice canoe buddy rescue at least once from each position.
I’m new to paddling and ended up with an Eddyline Fathom and a Delta 15.5 GT. I am trying to find classes in my area, but it’s not looking good without a hundred-mile drive. I sure do feel I have a lot to learn.
If it’s a good class, it will be worth the drive. That’s about the same mileage I drove when I took my intro to sea kayaking class, which covered self rescues.
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I’ll have to do some more digging to find a good class. I keep going out with my daughter without any formal instruction. Makes me nervous. So do most of the classes cover everything in a day such as wet exit and self-rescue besides paddling techniques, edging, and bracing?
I can’t speak for any other classes but the one I took at LL Bean in Maine. Best way to find out what the class will teach is to look online at the different classes or call whoever is running them and ask what they cover.
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A 6-8 hour Intro to Kayaking ACA class will cover the basics of strokes, equipment, and some rescues. A 4 hour class will cover about 1/2 of that based on what the instructor plans or feels is needed for the students attending.
I see students begin to get proficient after completing both Intro to Kayaking and Essentials of Kayak Touring which reinforces basic strokes, introduces more strokes, and teaches/practices more advanced rescues by growing on what was learned in the first class (each is a 6-8 hour class).
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I am going to state the obvious.
The best ride is upright in the boat yet we are all just between swims. Practicing for “what ifs” is good to do. Training not only leads to improvement but also provides an opportunity for self reflection in regard to your own abilities or inabilities.
In a rescue situation, people are always the first priority. Only help if you can do so without endangering yourself. I’ve been a little reluctant to take a swift water refresher in recent years because of the physicality that such a class demands. I’m constantly adjusting my paddling venues to reflect that diminished capacity.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. One of the advantages of mentoring newbies is that I frequently do get an opportunity to practice rescue skills.
Personally, I’m not a fan of shallow surface dives (belly flops), live bait, or z drags. I was a lot better at climbing into boats when I was younger. Now that I’m fat and old, I have a harder time scrambling on or into boats. I try to keep it real. Just because I’m between swims doesn’t mean I’m eager to take one. Prepare for the swim but know that dry hair can be quite nice.
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I’m pretty much the same, and the way I put it is “if you don’t want to swim it then don’t paddle it”.
For me that means no big open water alone, which is too bad because I live in the Ocean State (RI). In moving water, I top off at the easy end of class III. Above that and it is a 50/50 chance that I am going to swim. If it is a short, easy swim then I’d be more likely to run it. Or if it I’m with a group that I know Is OK chasing down a big open boat , then I’d also be more likely to run it. One of the difficulties with swims in moving water (other than the obvious risk of drowning) is that swimmer and boat often end up in different locations, and it can be difficult to get them back together again. I’d rather run rapids than hike along the shore looking for my boat.
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If you want to feel most solid fast consider finding a situation where you can stay overnight and do two days. Totally worth it. Rescue practice tends to be a little tiring, so nice to have some steam left for the other work.
The ACA program as above would do it. Make it a mini vacation w your family. In fact if your daughter is old enough, see if she could participate too. She’d have a ball w the rescue practice. Just be ready to be embarassed by your own hesitation if she is a water baby. The kids usually let go of inhibition a lot faster than adults.
100 miles not going to seem like a huge drive here. Those of us who have done big water training have often gone further than that to try out boats.
Celia
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Thank you all very much! I’m just a 68-year-old fart with plenty of go-power left in me that loves the outdoors. My daughter is 44 and hasn’t had any classes either other than how to get in and out and paddle a recreational kayak.
I have found age plays a serious factor in ones ability to breathe in an ample supply of oxygen while swimming, so I no longer go anywhere near the water without a quality PFD. It was a real shock to find out I can no longer swim.
I really do want to be able to paddle by myself, but only on inland lakes that are as smooth as glass on the weekdays. Moving water looks like some serious fun, but I think those days are gone for me. I could surprise myself, though. But the lake I will be on most of the time has some very steep surrounding terrain with heavy vegetation which makes self-rescue an absolute must. I wouldn’t even be able to walk out on land if I were to capsize and not be able to get back in. I have a paddle float and rescue strap, so I could watch YouTube and try to learn myself, but there is such a thing as learning bad habits. You just can’t beat professional instruction, although REI does seem to have some great videos.
I most certainly will try to find professional instruction somewhere near me. I live in between Nashville, Knoxville, and Chatanooga if anyone knows of anyone good to contact.
You would be hard pressed to find a location in the US where there are more opportunities for river paddling instruction and river rescue training than where you live.
There are several canoe and kayak clubs in east Tennessee that offer instruction in river canoeing, kayaking, and some swiftwater rescue training.
Check out Chota canoe club centered in Knoxville, TSRA (Tennessee Scenic Rivers Association) centered in Nashville, and the Tennessee Valley Canoe Club centered in Chattanooga.
You are also not far from the Nanatahala Outdoor Center and Endless Rivers Adventures, both of which offer instruction and are located on the Nanatahala River just south of Bryson City, NC.
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