Homemade throwbag

Tony's throwbag

Last year, during the winter, one of the guys had a swim in the rocks in some gnarly conditions. Neither of the other three had a throwbag. We got the situation under control after a while but a throwbag would have simplified things. I had a look at the local kayak store for a throwbag but wasn't really struck by what was available.

I thought a throwbag should be easy to grab onto in the frigid waters we have here and it should be easy to get a grip with neoprene mitts or gloves. Also, a bit of weight on the working end to enhance throwing distance would be good - the beener provides that and allows the swimmer to clip the rope onto the kayak.

I bought 50 feet of floating rope complete with float at Canadian Tire and a stainless steel beener. I had some flexible PVC piping I slipped over the rope before tying off to make it easy to slip a hand in. After a few test sews on my wife's sewing machine I had it going well enough to tackle the bag itself. I cut the material so that when it was sewed together it was tapered which I thought would allow all of the rope to come out of the bag. The rope feeds out through the bag through a brass grommet. I put a knot on both sides of the grommet before tying on the float etc.

Next - practice using it.