I’m not quite what you’d call a “prepper”, but I have been known to try to consider plenty of likely (and not-so-likely) scenarios and make sure I’m well prepared to handle them.
In keeping with this tradition, I try to stock the limited space in my PFD with useful and possibly life-saving items. I think I’m more prepared than many, but there’s also room for improvement with what I carry. I’m going to list everything below and I encourage you to add your own list and a picture or two, along with your own justifications for carrying said items. Everyone paddles in different environments and under differing conditions, so there’s no one-size-fits all solution here. I’ll be picking and choosing what works for me, and I hope some others can pick up some useful tips as well.
My paddling environment is mostly Georgian Bay (fresh water) , Ontario, Canada. I paddle year-round being much more conservative with distances from shore and overall day trip distances during the winter. Of course I carry lots of other safety, survival and comfort gear but the idea of this post is to look at what you’re left with have if separated from your boat and gear.
My PFD (Kokatat Outfit)
Mounted to outside:
Fox40 whistle
Short serrated knife
Digital watch
Pig tail with carabiners - attached to tow belt and shoulder strap while paddling, used with short tow line in Pocket 1.
Inside mesh sleeve:
Kyocera Brigadier smart phone (tethered, very waterproof)
Pocket 1 (my right):
20’ floating loose poly braided line, carabiner and brummel eye splice (eye attaches to pig tail carabiner to use as tow rope, easily removed and quickly re-stowed in non-tangling lay)
You could swap your orange garbage bags for a thermal blanket. Shiny on one side and bright color on the other for signaling, it can be used as a shelter half, and it can be used for keeping you warm.
main Left pocket - VHF radio (tethered), signal mirror
left pocket2 - signal orange rescue streamer with reflective tape
main right pocket - bug repellant, Pelican model 1920 light (amazingly bright for such a small size), Greatland rescue laser (reconsidering this one but visible many miles away) - the latter 2 tethered
right pocket 2 - nose plugs
I have a safety sausage attached to right shoulder strap, a whistle on front lash tab and a strobe on rear lash tab.
My spray skirt has a deck pocket. It’s content varies from trip to trip but usually always have my cell phone (in a waterproof shell inside of a waterproof bag) in there.
As the USCG embodies, semper paratus. I vary my gear per weather, conditions, distance and location and make sure I can get to all in boat and water with a single and either hand and properly deploy all. Plus be able to scamper back aboard uninhibited by loose or protruding gear.
@Andy said:
As the USCG embodies, semper paratus. I vary my gear per weather, conditions, distance and location and make sure I can get to all in boat and water with a single and either hand and properly deploy all. Plus be able to scamper back aboard uninhibited by loose or protruding gear.
Certainly a good M.O., but aren’t there things you find yourself attaching to or inside your PFD on a regular basis, regardless of the day’s paddling plan?
For me, the VHF radio is an often left behind item, as it is completely useless on inland rivers and small lakes/ponds. I have considered leaving it at home during the winter too, as there’s no one close enough to catch a transmission from it. The rest of the items have a mostly permanent place in my PFD until I revise my kit.
Yeah, I tried several cowboy scrambles the other day, in very benign conditions, and failed miserably each time (the re-enter and roll is a much more reliable rescue for me). I feel like I am much more nimble, able to crawl up on deck and so on without a type III PFD with pockets loaded, which in the past has motivated me to check out inflatable PFDs. I guess though that the merits outweighs the bulkiness which is made worse with stuffed pockets, and I do like having gadgets and goodies on my person. Another thing I realized with my new PFD and VHF is that placement in the front pocket places the pointy (even if flexible) antenna tip in a position where I could poke my eye pretty bad (e.g., if I were quickly tucking my head to the deck after flipping). Could put in on the shoulder but not sure how I would operate controls from and get feedback from the screen (e.g., did I really switch to channel 22?).
@Monkeyhead said:
I have a safety sausage attached to right shoulder strap, a whistle on front lash tab and a strobe on rear lash tab.
Ok, I hadn’t heard of a “safety sausage” before this. I looked it up and it seems something used mostly by divers to mark their ascent. How do you employ this item to your advantage in kayaking, or do you dive from your boat and use it for that?
It’s also used by divers to mark your location on the surface (e.g., in case you get separated from dive boat). This is especially useful for divers I suppose as a little head on the surface of the water is extremely difficult to spot at a distance and especially in rough conditions. So anyway, I would potentially use it the same way (perhaps even if I was not separated from my boat but definitely if I was). Blow it up, hold onto it or clip it onto my person, and it sticks up 4 feet or so out of the water (higher if you are waving it around) with a bright orange body and reflective tape on the side. One advantage is that after you inflate it, it doesn’t require you to operate it. So even if you are barely conscious or disable due to hypothermia or something, it is still doing it’s thing.
If you’re not separated from your boat, it just occurred to me that another use for a paddle float would be to put that on your paddle and wave around to attract attention since those are typically a fairly visible yellow color.
@Monkeyhead said:
Yeah, I tried several cowboy scrambles the other day, in very benign conditions, and failed miserably each time (the re-enter and roll is a much more reliable rescue for me). I feel like I am much more nimble, able to crawl up on deck and so on without a type III PFD with pockets loaded, which in the past has motivated me to check out inflatable PFDs. I guess though that the merits outweighs the bulkiness which is made worse with stuffed pockets, and I do like having gadgets and goodies on my person. Another thing I realized with my new PFD and VHF is that placement in the front pocket places the pointy (even if flexible) antenna tip in a position where I could poke my eye pretty bad (e.g., if I were quickly tucking my head to the deck after flipping). Could put in on the shoulder but not sure how I would operate controls from and get feedback from the screen (e.g., did I really switch to channel 22?).
I find my skirt to be more of an impediment to reentry than my PFD, even with pockets stuffed and radio protruding. It tends to get snagged on my day hatch cover or just under my knees/thighs. I know some people will attach the grab loop to their PFD shoulder strap to keep it out of the way but I’ve never cared for this either. Generally since I’m aware of the problem I can do things in such a way to avoid the problem.
Now, the radio… that’s another issue. I’m sure I’ve mentioned getting the antenna up the nose here before, and you raise a good point (so to speak) about the eyes. I’ve seriously considered moving it to my shoulder, as someone here described in a post a while back. That may also avoid inadvertent button pushing on the radio during reentry, which does happen to me occasionally as well. It has scared the crap out of me once or twice because I didn’t realize it got turned on, then someone keys up and starts talking!
Haha. Yeah, that very same thing happened to me yesterday (about the VHF radio). All of a sudden I started hearing voices!! Moreover, the day hatch issue you raided also happened to me yesterday. That is going to be the subject of my next post, in just a minute.
I guess I’m a minimalist. Depending on which PFD I’m wearing, I might carry nothing in the jacket, or at most I would have my radio and my truck keys in the pockets.
I think what you carry depends on the type of paddling you do. No WW, expeditions or overnight camping so I travel light.
I avoid doodads hanging off the front and wear a minimalist PFD with two small side pockets. They carry my valet car key, expired driver’s license for ID, tethered PLB (when I’m not wearing a drysuit; otherwise it’s carried in a drysuit pocket), a hunk of a DVD for signaling, and a high-protein bar. Requisite whistle slips into a space under one shoulder strap; knife (when I carry one, which is rarely) in the other, and a magnetized clip for my hydration tube attached to my right shoulder strap. That’s it. I can jam in a cell phone but generally will just slip it down the front of the PFD. Or carry it in my tactic pack when I use it.
The rest of the stuff that’s recommended to be carried (repair kit, medical kit, etc.) can fit into a day hatch or an underdeck bag.
I usually have my iPhone with me. If you ever try to use one in bright sunlight, you are aware that a smart phone makes a darn good reflector.
Maybe in Ontario it’s not, but in US coastal waters and great lakes, you are required by USCG to carry visual distress signals. I have three Orion, hand-held flares in a shrink wrap that go into my pocket if I think I’m going to be out at night. I’m not real sure what you are required to carry for day use. Maybe your sausage qualifies.
A side note on the flares: the instructions are written on the flares in type that is about 4 point, i.e., real small. And, they are kind of complicated. I bet it isn’t that complicated to fire a flare, but I’d really like to try it out before I need to fire one. This is, of course, illegal. I also hear that the hand-held flares are rather unreliable. I have some expired ones and the thought of firing them off in a city near here on Indepence Day has entered my mind. Private citizens in said city light off lots of fireworks on Independence Day. A flare should just blend right in and be no more or less illegal than a lot of the other displays.
“Just because everybody else is doing it doesn’t make it right!” – my mother said so.
If you think the folks coming looking for you might be using night vision googles or other low light system, a very good signal is an IR chem stick tied to a length of paracord and swung in a circle. It makes a huge signal and the chem stick will last much longer than a flare, won’t melt anything, works in the rain, and doesn’t require waterproofing for storage. The hard part is trusting it is actually illuminated if you don’t have NVGs. Obviously, this a night only type of signal.
@BoozTalkin said:
I usually have my iPhone with me. If you ever try to use one in bright sunlight, you are aware that a smart phone makes a darn good reflector.
That’s actually a really good tip. Since I always have one with me, the additional signal mirror might just be taking up space.
Maybe in Ontario it’s not, but in US coastal waters and great lakes, you are required by USCG to carry visual distress signals. I have three Orion, hand-held flares in a shrink wrap that go into my pocket if I think I’m going to be out at night. I’m not real sure what you are required to carry for day use. Maybe your sausage qualifies.
Flares are not a requirement where and when I paddle. I don’t carry a “sausage”, that was the Monkey Man.
I’m a bit undecided on flares. I mean, for something that’s supposed to burn, it’s a very harsh environment on (and under) the water. If it’s a last ditch effort, I’m not sure I could trust them unless they were always very fresh. Even then, I’m not sure. I think if I were to the point I’d be firing off a flare, I’m probably better off activating my PLB.
