Eleven paddlers turned up for Thursday evening practice at St. Philips. Things were pretty tame in the cove so we went for a paddle up to Topsail Beach. One of the guys was a novice paddler and when the sea state got to where I thought he might be getting uncomfortable, I kept a little closer.
No sooner had I made that decision and over he went. We had a swimmer in an unscripted moment. Practice became real and it was good to complete the rescue without any hiccups.
At Topsail Beach we turned and headed back in a quartering sea. Again we had a swimmer. This time Dean did the rescue as I lagged behind to act a sweep.
We made our way back to St. Philips without further mishap as the sun set in a clear sky over Bell Island. It was reassuring to realize the rescues went off just like it was practice.. I guess that's why we practice.
hey now - Sean deserves half the credit on that rescue...i ended up with the kayaks stern-to-stern (I know, I know) and could not keep a good eye on things happening behind me... Sean quickly moved in and steadied the kayak from the other side so the person in the water had a good solid platform to crawl up on... it became a duel effort... Although not intentional it was all good practice for a rather warm (air and water) Thursday evening session.
ReplyDeleteOK, credit given then. I was watching as I caught up from sweeping and thought to myself when I saw Ron go in too, too many cooks spil the broth.
ReplyDeleteIts one thing to do a rescue when scripted, something altogether different when it happens at random. I could probably have blown the whistle to alert the rest of the group we had a swimmer but felt I could handle it promptly myself. In fact, I don't think anyone realized I had done one.
Tony :-)