Kayak Self-Rescue Practice Broken Paddle – Again
Several months ago, I did a kayak self-rescue practice in Smith Creek Park Lake, using a two piece wood Greenland paddle with a fiberglass collar in the middle of the handle to join the two blades, which I got from my good friend Bill Webb. I had an air inflated float on one paddle blade; and the other blade braced under the rear deck cords. My method was the heel hook, putting my foot inside the cockpit rim, and rolling into the seat. I broke the paddle at the collar.
Then, soon afterwards, I took a rescue clinic with the TRPC in the New Bern YMCA pool, using a much heavier handled, one piece, solid wood Greenland paddle. Under the wonderful tutelage of John But, I was able to successfully do two heel hook self-rescues.
So, yesterday, using the same boat, deck cords, paddle and float, I did another self-rescue practice at Smith Creek lake. The only things that changed were I was trying out a set of nylon webbing boat steps hooked with NRS extra-large carabiners to my paddle; and I had lost about 25 pounds of weight. My practice failed for multiple reasons.
First, the boat steps were no help. When I put my weight on the bottom step, I could not keep it under me to step up. My feet floated out in front of me and gave me no lift. So, I will stop carrying it in my kayak deck bag. My next experiment will be to try it with my canoe.
Second, the deck cords stretched too much and would not hold the boat level. As I put my weight on the near side cockpit rim, the boat rotated 90 degrees. The bottom edge of the rim started to take on water, when I quit pulling on it, and let the boat settle back down flat. So, I moved the paddle to another part of the deck cords which had less flex.
Third, the boat rotated 90 degrees again. From that position, I could not see the float, but since the boat deck was vertical, I believe the float did not have enough lift to hold me up and went under water. I blew up the float’s two chambers as tight as they could go and tightened the strap on the paddle handle.
Fourth, I tried it again. The boat rotated 90 degrees. Then the thick, heavy paddle handle broke cleanly in two. My motions were extremely efficient, with my thigh and stomach tightly against the cockpit rim, and my shoulders flat on the stern deck. I cannot mount the boat any more cleanly.
Wisely, I chose to do the practice at a place in the lake with a firm, sandy bottom and fairly close to the shore. I only had to tow the boat and swim a few yards to reach the bottom with my feet and walk to the shore. Luckily, I was at a trail which led between long sections of thick brush ringing the lake up to a paved path. Further luckily, I had my wheeled boat cart with me. The final work of the afternoon was to pull the boat on a half mile, mostly uphill slog to the parking lot.
This bad development makes no sense to me. The situation should have been a better self-rescue, not a worse one. It makes my future paddle trips unsafe and troublesome, until I can find cures for these problems.
The four main culprits appeared to be:
- Broken paddle. I will shop for another one piece Greenland paddle. The question is, what is the strongest material? Wood, aluminum, fiberglass, carbon or what?
- Deck cords too stretchy. What is the strongest, tightest type of cord? Where is a good source? I have never replaced deck cord, so what it the best source of instruction?
- Float not enough lift. When I have shopped for floats, the providers do not mention the volume, or which one is bigger. Is there a source for big floats?
- Body entry technique. Is there another method that puts less strain on the paddle and float?
I hope some of my readers can offer me advice. Thank you in advance for your time and attention.
