Scoop rescue

At the pool

Tuesday evening, pool evening, while talking to Neville he wondered about the scoop rescue. Lets do one he said as he volunteered to be the victim.

The scoop rescue is probably the only option to get an injured paddler back in their kayak. So Nevile got out, I paddle up to the overturned kayak on the side opposite Neville floating in the water, tip the kayak up on its side with the cockpit towards Neville and pull him (floating on his back) into the cockpit. Depending on the injury this may have varying degrees of difficulty. For example, if the injury is a dislocated shoulder, it makes a big difference whether the injured shoulder is the near or far shoulder. If its the far shoulder the swimmer can use their arm to assist in getting floated back into the cockpit.

Once I had Neville sufficiently into the cockpit, I reached over the kayak, grabbed onto his PFD and simultaneously pushed down on the top side of the kayak and pulled on the PFD.

Neville is a big lad and I only got him upright when he lay back onto his back deck.

Interesting exercise and something worth practicing. I'm looking forward to trying this in the open ocean and in conditions.