kayak across the water

Try to save myself, but myself keeps slipping away.

Into the Void, NIN, The Fragile

I’m still obsessing over self-rescue techniques. Alan and I duly went along to Garnock’s club night and very beneficial it was too. Richard, the kindly coach who offered to help us, lost no time in getting everyone out of their comfort zone by encouraging us to experiment with balance. This led to some early entries into the Loch as most of us failed to reach the pinnacle of balancing achievement, ie standing in our boats. Alan and I have promised never to call our boats “tippy” (whilst comfortably seated in them) again. In contrast to Loch Eck, Kilbirnie Loch was quite warm, albeit a bit browner. After some expert demos from Richard, we were soon ducking our heads underwater and positioning our kayaks overhead ready to push them up and turn them back to an upright state. This wasn’t really happening for me, unfortunately, as the kayak above me merely pushed me further underwater it seemed. Ultimately, after my assisted rescue produced a double capsize (cringe), Richard showed me how to place the kayak high on to my shoulder and then push it up and turn it over. This worked much better and I succeeded in emptying out the bulk of the water. (more…)

As the weather turned positively summer-like last week, Alan and I took the opportunity to bunk off work and go practice not-drowning (aka self/assisted rescues) in Loch Eck one afternoon. The conditions, of course, didn’t exactly match those that one might predict would necessitate a real-life rescue situation, but we have to start somewhere. We commenced with self rescues and my most immediate issue was, as before, a complete inability to lift and twist the capsized kayak to get at least some of the water out. So I end up working with a kayak that’s full of water and incredibly tippy. I managed to re-enter by hauling myself in from the stern, but it was like walking a tightrope in my attempt not to tip over. All the while, the usual thoughts reverberate around my head: this would be such a non-starter in rough conditions and I am therefore doomed. Not very encouraging. The same thoughts accompanied my efforts to use a paddle float which were ultimately successful, but am I really going to be faffing about inflating a float, attaching the paddle to deck lines, having it fall out, re-attaching, still trying not to tip etc etc in an emergency situation? My gut feel all along has been that I simply need to learn a quick way to get the water out (or as much as possible) and get in, period. If I can’t learn this, then the future of my sea kayaking activities is in doubt. (more…)