T-RESCUE STEPS

If a boat capsizes and another paddler is nearby, a T rescue is an excellent technique to ​ ​ use.

1. My boat has capsized. Katy (still afloat) paddles toward the front of my boat.

2. Her goal: Position her boat so it is perpendicular (in the form of a T) to the bow of the capsized boat.

3. I perform a wet exit and swim to the back of my overturned boat.

4. I execute a big frog kick and push down on the back of my boat; Katy simultaneously lifts the front. The action breaks the suction created by the cockpit combing, making it easier for Katy to place my bow on her deck (so the 2 boats roughly form a T).

5. Katy rocks my tipped boat back and forth to empty water from the cockpit.

6. She and I right the capsized boat.

7. Katy repositions her boat so it is:

● parallel to my boat

● facing my boat (stern to bow)

8. Katy takes my paddle.

9. Katy stabilizes my boat by leaning hard into it with maximum body weight.

10. I use a frog kick to swim under my boat and surface between the 2 boats.

11. Keeping my weight very low, I put my feet into my boat's cockpit.

12. Balancing my weight between both boats, I face Katy's boat (so I can lean on either boat) and swivel into my cockpit.

13. Katy stabilizes the 2 boats as I reenter the cockpit.

14. She helps me reattach my spray skirt and hands me my paddle. We're ready to go.

PADDLE FLOAT RESCUE STEPS

Following a wet exit, how do you reenter your boat when you're paddling solo? Use a paddle float rescue. ​ 1. Following a wet exit, grab your paddle and boat. Wind can carry them away faster than you can swim.

2. Reach under the capsized boat and grab your paddle float. It is a rolled-up piece of material normally stored under the bungee cords on your boat's deck.

3. Hook one leg inside the boat's cockpit. Why?

● To keep the boat from drifting away. ● To permit use of both hands.

4. Unroll the paddle float, open one of the tubes and inflate the chamber. 5. Slide a paddle blade into the inflated sleeve.

6. Clip the sleeve to the shaft to secure it in place.

7. Take your feet out of the cockpit and flip the boat right-side up. How?

● Reach under the capsized boat. ● Grab the far edge of the combing and pull it toward you while pushing on the hull section nearest you. The boat should roll over like a log in the water.

8. Place the paddle on the boat and perpendicular to the boat (like an outrigger). ● The blade with the paddle float goes in the water. ● The bare blade stays on the boat, out of the water.

9. Gripping the paddle and using it as a brace, execute a frog kick (a 2-legged thrusting motion) and push your body out of the water, keeping weight low and close to the boat. 10. Keep a hand on the paddle; balance your weight between the boat and the paddle float; slip your body into the cockpit.

11. Use your bilge pump to purge water from the cockpit. 12. Leave the paddle float in place for stability until you reattach your spray skirt.

The Curl This is a variation on the T-Rescue, which is useful where the casualty's kayak is badly flooded or heavy with equipment, or when the casualty is stronger than the rescuer. The casualty does most of the work, using the rescuer's kayak as a float. Put the two kayaks side by side, with the casualty's kayak on one side of the rescuer's kayak and the casualty on the other. The rescuer holds both paddles. The casualty gets his upper body on top of the rescuer's kayak and grasps his own kayak at the cockpit with both hands. Putting the kayak on its side, he raises it slowly so that most of the water comes out. He then puts it upside down across the rescuer's kayak and teeter-totters it. When all the water is out, he puts it back in the water alongside the rescuer's kayak and climbs back in while the rescuer holds the raft together.

Emptying a heavy kayak The rear cockpit of a double kayak is closer to the rear end and it may not be possible to lift it clear of the water in a T-rescue. A double sea kayak may weigh 100 lbs dry and empty and as much as a compact car when loaded with equipment and partly flooded. Even a single sea kayak may weigh 300 lbs when loaded with expedition equipment, making it difficult to carry out a T-rescue, or do an X-rescue without damaging one or both kayaks. The solution may be to get most of the water out using The Curl, get the ​ ​ casualties back in with their sprayskirts partly on, and get the rest of the water out with a pump. ​ ​

The H-Rescue The old fashioned H-rescue remains a possibility worth considering if the rescuers have plenty of muscle. One rescuer goes to each end of the casualties' kayak. If it is badly flooded, they put it on its side and lift it slowly to get the worst of the water out. Then they let it go back to being fully upside-down and take it in turns to lift one end after the other until it is completely empty. The H-rescue position is quite unstable (A) although it will help if other kayakers raft up with them (B). If there are only two rescuing kayaks, the rescuers will need to be confident in their boats. They may be unable to complete this sort of rescue unless conditions are very calm. So, a quick mention for the equally old-fashioned HI rescue (H because from above it looks like an H, I because it was invented in Ipswich, England in 1967). It's a much more stable position than the H rescue but not suitable if you have fashionably light paddles. Two kayaks raft up with the flooded heavy kayak, one on each side. All the available paddles are placed together to form a bridge across the middle of the two rescuing kayaks. The front of the flooded kayak is placed on the bridge and then all concerned do their utmost to raise the other end of the kayak and thereby empty it out. Many of today's paddle shafts would bend if aluminum or break if made of fiberglass or some other composite. If lifting, draining and pumping don't get enough water out of a kayak to make it stable enough to paddle, another kayak can raft up with it for stability and the raft can then be paddled slowly to a beach or harbor.

OTHER RESCUE TECHNIQUES