NYCkayaker NY Times Sat - Kayakers Rescued Near Waterfall in

[Rich Kulawiec]

On Mon, Jul 14, 2008 at 11:30:02AM -0700, TomBrooklyn wrote:
> Before newbies go on a paddle, I think it would be a great idea to have them go
> overboard in relatively protected waters under controlled conditions and practice an
> assisted and self rescue at least once.    

(I work part-time as a whitewater kayak instructor.)  One of the mandatory
parts of my lessons is that anyone getting into a closed-cockpit boat
with a sprayskirt must demonstrate ability to get out of that boat calmly
before we go anywhere or do anything.  My usual approach to this is to
stand in the water next to them and have them flip one at a time so that
I can assist them if necessary.

I have to know that they can wet-exit before I put them in an environment
where they may need to.  Yeah, my head's on a swivel every minute we're
out there, and yeah, I can sprint very fast...but I don't want to have
to do that.

This step isn't necessary for open-cockpit/non-sprayskirt/sit-on-top
boats because I'm pretty sure they'll fall out/off.

---Rsk