My HMB Lessons

Great advice! I learned the hard way as well and thankfully I was with a group that was quick to help or else it would have been bad.

Great advice! I learned the hard way as well and thankfully I was with a group that was quick to help or else it would have been bad.

Did you go into the drink?

All great advice.

However, I might add something to the following.

  4. You need to be in great physical shape, strengthen upper body with weight training, reduce weight of lower body.  Exercise!  Reentry requires you to lift your body, wetsuit, and gear clear of the water, all while balancing in swells.

Technique can overcome brute strength or physical condition.  As an example, almost everybody can hoist themselves up on the side of a pool, even those not in great physical shape.  With gear on, you are a little bit more heavy and bulky, but practice, practice, and practice and almost everyone can re-enter a kayak.

-Allen

All great advice.

However, I might add something to the following.

  4. You need to be in great physical shape, strengthen upper body with weight training, reduce weight of lower body.  Exercise!  Reentry requires you to lift your body, wetsuit, and gear clear of the water, all while balancing in swells.

Technique can overcome brute strength or physical condition.  As an example, almost everybody can hoist themselves up on the side of a pool, even those not in great physical shape.  With gear on, you are a little bit more heavy and bulky, but practice, practice, and practice and almost everyone can re-enter a kayak.

-Allen

Very true. I hate to say I am way over weight and tipped my kayak. I was able to get back into my kayak. I did have a different technique of righting my kayak though. With all of my adrenaline pumping, I went underneath my kayak pressed it upward and flipped it right side. Guess I still have some decent upper body strength still.

Alex

IMO the easiest way to right a kayak is to get under, push up on one side as you pull down on the other.
Polepole's "getting out of a swimming pool" reference is exactly how I explain the first step of self rescue.
Sorry this happened to you. I don't think it's your weight that caused you to tip. It's usually the position of your weight; head on the outside of the rails of the kayak. Where your head goes your body will follow.
Also I appreciate you discussing the problems you encountered with leashes. It's very hard to get people to realize what a death trap they can be. Floatation, floatation, flotation.

Glad your list is useful to other members.

There is one bullet point I didn't see that I think is one of the most important factors. 

#1 Stay calm

My kids enjoy kayaking and are asking to do it more.  I am making them practice getting back onto a kayak.  During their practice dumping and re-entries, I tell them to stay calm and access their situation as well as take note of the wind and waves and how to best position themselves in relation to those elements.  Another think I tell them is to not let go of the kayak.  Staying with the kayak gives them visibility. 

I also agree with pole pole in that technique is very important.  My 7 year old daughter doesn't have strong upper body strength, but with practice she can get back on the kayak. 

Nate

Also I appreciate you discussing the problems you encountered with leashes. It's very hard to get people to realize what a death trap they can be. Floatation, floatation, flotation.

Leashes can make re-entry more difficult but if done correctly should not pose a safety hazard. I leash just about everything except for my net which floats. Here are some tips on leashing:
1. Minimize the amount of of equipment you bring and the amount on the deck. Stow stuff you are less likely to use in the hull. If you are rigged for surf launch or a wet landing all the time you are on the water, you shouldn't lose anything if you get flipped.
2. Use short coiled plastic leashes or retractable leashes. These tend not to entangle when the boat is upside down. If you use rope leashes, keep them really short, 1-2'.
3. Don't leash equipment in the cockpit, leash in the aft tankwell or the bow. Keep your cockpit as free of rigging as possible and have one side completely free of all rigging.

I have flipped more than most and a couple of times with 4 leashed rods on deck and have never had problems getting back in.

The 3 most common errors that lead to unfortunate events are:
1. Inability to self-rescue quickly
2. Inability to self-rescue quickly
3. Inability to self-rescue quickly

The other errors, poor judgement, gear, rigging, leaky kayak, panic contribute to some events but they all start the same way. "I fell out and couldn't climb back in." I have seen OG struggle to climb back in so this isn't just a newbie problem. Go to lake and practice it until you don't have to think about it and do it every year.

Yea Scott I can agree with that PANIC thing. Takes hard concentrating not to. When I go in I realize and stare at all the bubbles going by and that seems to relax me. Then while that is happening I try and tell my body to get ready to breath since in cold water it just doesn't cooperate to well.

Dumping three times early in my career has taught me well and every year now I practice a lot dumping out for fun. Best places for me to practice are Cabo, the East Cape and Hawaii!!!  Now being in Texas all the warm water lakes work too

good stuff bro... hope you didn't have to learn all that the hard way..

A very good list.  I worked on #6 recently by replacing my rod leashes with sections of pool noodle.  I was surprised that a piece of pool noodle just a foot long made a 7 foot rod with a large casting reel float.  I followed the advice given in another thread to cut the pool noodle lengthwise on a bias so that it will stay on the rod without being tied.  I also put a piece of pool noodle on my game clip to make it float.

I don't kayak yet but today I was checking out safety gear and realized that my float tube fins wold be nice on a kayak as a last resort to swim.  They fit over wading boots or booties.

Piss Kiss,

You are now posted on top of my 'One Note' fishing safety. (pc users should check their Microsoft Office for Microsoft One Note 2010 for data collection. It's awesome.)

From your post and replies, I'm adding more pool noodles, a pair of swim fins, a pump and a harness for gear in the hatch.   Thanks for your dump and the replies.

I always wear a Barracuda swim cap under my large hat.  Just a neoprene swim cap for cold water.

In large swells, don't get last.  Swim under the kayak so it's Swell, you, kayak.  It can't be flipped if it's landing on your head.  Do some T rescues with your partner.  Tighten pfd after you loosened it to get it on.
Blast the water with fun! 

What do you guys think of having a satellite messenger (SPOT, etc.) attached to your vest in addition to a VHF radio? 
Three guys I know recently had their 22' boat flipped upside down by a 10 to 12' sleeper wave near Bodega.  There was a hardwired VHF that was mounted to the dash which would have been useless to radio for rescue.  They were fortunate that a nearby fishing boat saw the entire thing happen and were there to rescue them within minutes.  One guy had to remove his auto inflate PFD to swim out from under the boat because the PFD pinned him to the upside down deck.  Just as they were nearing the Coast Guard station near the boat ramp the Coasties were headed out to rescue them.  I realize this has nothing to do with Kayaks but just making a point that another method of calling for help might be useful. 

Before loading up on more equipment probably the best thing anybody can do is step back and look at what they're doing and figure out if the total package could be safer

Small boats are way more vulnerable than kayaks, I usually fish whatever conditions I happen to get on the days I can get out and see a lot of small boats caught out in bad conditions. I've watched boats flip, have known people who have needed rescuing and even saw one boat explode in a fireball. Back in the 80s I salvaged a boat, don't know what happened to the people in it

Not trying to dissuade anyone from carrying any particular safety gear, but for kayakers it might be more useful to look at what youre doing and either picture how it'll shake out if weather turns on you, or actually go out and test your setup in real conditions

Do that and odds are you'll be inclined to set up w very clean topsides or even buy a different yak

Best answer to the question about satellite messenger and any other safety gear is to figure out how to not need it in the first place

That said, after an incident a while back I immediately went shopping for a handheld to attach to my person

The SPOT might be useful if you are in remote areas where your VHF MayDay may not be received by Coast Guard or other boaters.  Better make sure you can last a while though, nobody is likely to show up for a while.  It's not like calling 911 in a city.  But I could see where it could be useful if you got stuck on rugged coastline where you couldn't climb up to land.  Or, found yourself lost at sea in your kayak.