Clyde in Tors Cove
Sunday was a rude awakening for me. Clyde was goofing around and ended up out of his kayak. I went to assist. I was surprised and disappointed with how I performed.
The winds were blowing at about 20 knots which generated wind waves of about a meter. Clyde's overturned boat was broached in the waves. I paddled up to the bow in the wind, latched on as Clyde went to the stern to help me get the boat up to drain it. Clyde, in the water, acted as an anchor for the stern of his boat while the wind blew me and the bow of his boat downwind. The drift put his kayak at about 11:00 relative to me and couldn't get any leverage to pull the bow up. I let go to reposition for another attempt.
By the time I got back into position to help, Clyde had righted his boat and started a back deck scramble on. I steadied as he got back into the cockpit. Situation stabilized.
I've reflected on the rescue. In hindsight, I could have been quicker to pull the bow out of the water before I lost the perpendicular leverage I had. Also, my technique felt a bit rusty because I hadn't done an assisted rescue in a while.
The easiest thing is to shrug it off but honesty will tell me I have to practice this more often in conditions. Practice in safe, realistic conditions will identify any flaws in technique or mechanics that need to be fixed so that they can be counted on when really necessary.
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