On the rocksRecently we did a short paddle close to home during which we had to do a rescue.
It ended well but two of us made mistakes.
Me first. Close to home and in good conditions I left my tow system behind in the car thinking in such circumstances it wouldn't be needed. I was right only because two of the four had their tow ropes. I could have been wrong had one of those guys also gotten into difficulty.
The rescuee, I'll call Netsook (a name out of a grade 3 geography text for anonymity *lol*) got caught in a small rock garden by a large surge, went over and had to wet exit. Three of us looked on with some concern as he and his boat got trashed around badly by the waves. He managed to get up onto the rocks battered and bruised.
I felt helpless because I was without my tow rope. It fell to Dean and Sean to effect the rescue. Dean suggested the boat be pushed out so it could be towed out of the rock garden. Netsook then jumped back in the water and swam out to where Sean could pull him to safety.
What did I learn? Never leave any safety gear behind under any circumstances. I should also have had a throw bag. Or, had I had my tow rope, I would have been able to clip in and use the bag part as a "throw bag".
Furthermore, if I had my tow rope, I could have clipped Dean in before he ventured into the rock garden so that he could be pulled out had he gotten himself into trouble.
We regularly practice assisted rescues but haven't practiced an extraction and rescue. I know we will be in the future. We were lucky there were no dire consequences; thing is to learn from it. That's why I'm sharing.
Tony I have to ask why tow rope was used instead of a throw bag? Keep the rescuer out of the surf zone and both yak and person can be towed out with a re-entry in safer waters.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing as it's very interesting
and the kayaker shouldnt feel ashamed not to tell his name, as thats how kayakers get better...by messin stuff up!
Lee, neither of us had a throw bag. You are correct that a throw bag would have been a better option and I intend to get one shortly. In the meantime I'm going to try using the tow rope like a throw bag (filling the bag with water may help with distance) and see how that works. I think the guy on the rocks would have had more of a chance to throw accurately than a guy from the seat of a kayak. Either the rescuer or the rescuee could use the throw bag.
ReplyDeleteIn any case there's more to practice.
Tony :-)
I was wondering when you were going to post this Tony!
ReplyDeleteBy way of background. G went aground on a submerged rock and the swell knocked him over. He tried to roll but was hitting rocks with his paddle as well as a few brushes with his head (not nice). When G could not roll he came out of his boat and because he was VERY close to shore, he pulled himself up on the rocks while trying to get his boat up out of the swells. Nobody was really close to G went he went over. At the time I was in pretty much the exact same place as above in the picture (red boat). Once he was on the rocks, it was really a matter of how to get him out of there. If worse came to worse, he could've went up them and onto the bank behind. The idea was to not have this happen and to get him out by water. G was intent on getting his boat out of the water as it was bashing about quite a bit. But he, himself, was safe.
Dean and I both had tow ropes and it was decided that Dean would move in while G would shoot his boat out through the swell. Once the boat was extracted, I would move in and pick up G. Once the decision was made to do this, the rescue went relatively smooth. Dean hooked onto G's boat and pulled it out of the surf zone. I moved in, G jumped back into the water and then grabbed my bow toggle and I backed out with him holding on. Once into calm water we did the standard rescue to get G back in the boat.
As for my part, I'll say that towing G out backwards was a bit of a slog but we were in no real danger. We could've tried G getting on my deck but the distance was not long enough to justify such a move.
I remember a few guys trying out the tow bag throw back in one of our St. Philip's practices. I don't think the bags went anywhere as far as they thought they would. Still, probably long enough the rescue this day.
I think our biggest fault was the time delay. We sat back and watched G try to get his boat out. There was no sense in us all going in at this point as we would've had an "all in" situation. Once the course of action was decided, the rescue went pretty good.
Of course, I may have had on my rose coloured sunglasses that day!!
Sean
Tip on the throw bags that guys cant throw far. Tie in a "monkeys paw" if you cant find it on google Rob P would be able to show you how. I have one tied into mine and it is easy to throw it's whole lenght fairly acurately.
ReplyDeleteI used to know how to tie a monkeys fist (as we called them in the Naval Reserves) but I've long lost that skill. They were on the ends of the heaving lines and made it easier to toss them ashore from greater distances. Weights can be added to the centre for more "heft" but I doubt that you'd want to bean you fellow paddlers with a lead-center monkeys fist!!! We also used to cover them in chem light liquid to make them easier to see at night.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the rekindling the memories - that was almost 25 years ago!!
LoL glad I could! And your right...a lead weighted monkeys paw in the head would add a new dynamic to the rescue for sure!lol.
ReplyDeleteThere was another way of tying in a good knot system as well...but we had them for our reconnasiance assult boats.the name has slipped me.
One of the key concepts in handling rescue situations is for someone to take charge immediately. That may mean telling others to give way and performing the rescue yourself, or it may mean holding position close by and telling a specific person or persons exactly what you want them to do. This avoids delay and confusion.
ReplyDeleteAnd that's another mistake I made Malcolm. I should have indicated to the other guys I didn't have a tow rope and stood by to provide what help I could as requested.
ReplyDeleteTony :-)
Although we have never practiced an off-shore extraction, it went well once we decided on the course of action. Maybe we could have done it differently, or better... Like Sean said, G could have scambled up the bank - we had options... but we made a plan and executed it and it worked out.
ReplyDeleteWe are all a little wiser for the experience.... we will all paddle together another day....
Forgetting the incident, it was a great little paddle. Nice day, good friends.
As I said, there was a time delay as we watched G get out of the boat and scramble up the rocks. I don't think he was in any inherent danger at this point so we sat back a bit and thought it out. It got a bit hairy when G decided that his boat needed to get out of the water as well. Holding a boat by its toggle in a swell while perched on the rocks is not a good situation.
ReplyDeleteAt this point Dean, Tony and myself where outside the soup. I may be wrong on this, but I'm pretty sure I said that if we get the boat out, then the paddler, we could do a regular rescue in calm water (again, remember those rose coloured sunglasses). Dean took it upon himself to enter the soup and get G's boat. The big problem was communication. G could not hear what Dean was saying - which was "push your boat out for a tow". Once G understood what was going on, he simply pushed his boat out and Dean hooked on and pulled it out. Once the boat was out, I moved in and G jumped back into the water which was not as bad as you may think. Once in the water he used his paddle to come towards me. Problem was that his huge euro blades were catching the incoming swell that pushed him about a bit. He grabbed my bow toggle and I backpaddled him out out of the soup.
From what I recall, G said that, at no point, was he afraid or felt really in danger. I'm thinking we may have felt the same and thus our hesitation on the initial action.
To our credit, nobody did anything stupid like blindly rush in for a rescue. I do recall some concern but certainly no feeling of dread. The worst case scenario was G letting his boat go and letting the sea have it's way with it while he scuttled up over the rocks to the trees/bank behind. A walk to the road would have followed but it's not that far. An inconvenience more than a danger!
It may have seemed like forever but I don't think the total rescue took that long - once we decided upon a course of action.
Here's my take on it all - a fellow paddler got in trouble, his paddle mates got him out safe and sound, everybody managed to paddle back to the takeout in one piece. In other words, we done right. Maybe not the best, but give the circumstances, we done right!
Had the seas been too violent, I'm sure we would have changed the plan, i.e., G hightails it up the rocks and the boat bites it!
I'm not sure about others but I'm not beating myself over the head on this one. As my fist "real rescue" I think we did OK. Certainly a good learning tool but nothing to be ashamed of.
Sean
p.s. Dean rescued G's favorite hat. He threw it back to me as we were in the soup. I paddled forward to get it but it soon ended up over a large submerged rock that the swell was breaking over. I tried a number of times to retrieve it but then remembered a story that Alex Mc told about the danger he put himself in to save a 500.00 paddle. That put it all in perspective and I let that shaggin' hat go! Sorry G-Man!