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SK Newsletter: September 1, 2009
By Christopher Cunningham
Editor |
In our October ‘09 issue we have a new rescue technique from Doug Alderson, a regular contributor to Sea Kayaker magazine and the author of several books, including Sea Kayak Strokes and Sea Kayakers’s Savvy Paddler, and coauthor with Michael Pardy of Sea Kayaker’s Handbook of Safety and Rescue. The Straddle-X Rescue is an important assisted rescue because it gets the wet-exited kayaker out of the water first and puts him (or her) in a position to help the rescuer with getting the capsized kayak righted and its cockpit cleared of water. Many of the standard assisted rescues leave the unfortunate paddler in the water while the rescuer attends to the boat. With those methods the kayaker in the water can help prepare the kayak for reentry, but being neck deep in cold water, even in proper immersion wear, can be stressful. In the Straddle-X Rescue the rescuee crawls aboard the rescuer’s bow. Being almost entirely out of the water, aboard, albeit not in, a boat and face to face with a companion can provide quite a morale boost for both kayakers.
You can never have too many rescue techniques, and the Straddle-X Rescue should be one of your standards. Crawling up on the end of a boat is much easier than climbing aboard amidships. The ends of a kayak will submerge and you don’t have to climb so high to get aboard. For kayaks equipped with rudders, the bow is less likely to snag clothing. The Straddle-X Rescue makes a lot of sense and I have to wonder why someone hadn’t figured it out years ago. Check out our October ‘09 issue for Doug’s article with all the details on the rescue technique and go to our website for a video showing how a twelve-year-old boy uses the Straddle-X to get his dad out of the drink. |
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