Some thoughts about my Outback

After having owned it for 6 months and having used it many, many times... I love it.  Got back in to the ramp yesterday, and got a lot of strange looks and questions from the bystanders.  One guy told me how cool it was and said he had never seen anything like it.  I told him about the NCKA and that there were at least a couple of hundred other guys with similar set ups. 

The weather was hot, and the water was warm... with rockies being open I decided it was time to practice self rescues... A few observations:  The Outback is a tank, no doubt.  Likelyhood of rollover is not high, probably as minimal as possible in a kayak.  However, in the unlikely event of a rollover, self rescue is not exactly easy.  Don't get me wrong, it is plenty doable.  It isn't like the Yak wants to roll over on you or anything, it is just that it has really high sides compared to a a lot of the other yaks I've seen.  I don't have a lot of experience in this venue, but it seems to me that getting back into it requires a fair amount of upper body strength.  I'm not sure if this is specific to the Outback, or all hobies.  I suspect it is mainly due to the high sides... A trade-off for superior stability.  Anyway, just a word of caution to other guys... practice your self rescues.  It was a tad harder than I had anticipated.  Still not sure about the feasibility of it in rough ocean conditions, even though I suspect a wetsuit will help by making the legs more buoyant. 

Thoughts? Suggestions? Anything to add?

It's slightly harder to re-enter in fresh water because of the difference in buoyancy(no wetsuit also). You can see how it could be really important to have a buddy with you. In cold ocean water hypothermia and a possible injury could make you unable to self rescue. The quicker you are able to get out the better.

I think the moral of the story is to stay out of the ocean when the conditions are disproportionate to ones experience...

  I have an 08' OB and the only time I really almost fell over was my very first time sitting in my very first 04' model OB.  kayak was along side dock, (Dock sat about 1 foot higher than kayak) and I reached across with one arm to the outside gunnal other arm on firmly locked onto the dock cleat then scooched my rearend over the dock and into the seat of the kayak, and as I swung my legs off dock, I was leaning away from the dock and fortunately I still had a death grip on the dock cleat and that prevented me from going over! 
   Now, getting in the thing is a no brainer from a dock or shore.  Never had an opportunity to try self rescue as I've never come close to tipping it.  (I don't do the big blue yet)
  One of these hot summer days I'll try self rescue on my local lake.

 

Yeah the OB does have some pretty high sides so there is a trick to self-rescue. Get your hands on both handles first. Then rock the yak back so it's on it's rail (almost vertical). Then w/ that momentum rock it the opposite direction while pulling yourself up. A few kicks at the same time will make it a bit easier. It'll literally chuck you up onto the yak. It might take a few tries to get it but you'll know what I'm talking about when it works.

BTW this was all just practice at the lake as well. Never dumped the OB.

Z

thanks for the tip Z... I'll give that a try.  You know what they say... practice makes perfect.  I suspect that one major thing (as shim pointed out) is the buddy system.

I yak out of Trinidad.  I've owned by OB for two months and love it.  Very stable in the big swells, and I've often wondered how difficult it would be to get back in?  Will do a test dump in the lagoon, soon.  Thanks to all for the advice.
Tim