Swamped Kayak Rescue Sessions - Stevens Creek Reservoir/HMB

What a great job, fellas!!!!  Thank you for such good pictures.

nicely done gentlemen 

Etiene - The site is up and running, perhaps it's a filtration issue?

Swellrider - the appropriate weasel words will be added to the article itself. There will be disclaimers out the wazoo.

Everyone - This is meant to be a rough guide, for informational use only. YOU HAVE TO PRACTICE WITH YOUR OWN PERSONAL BOAT,  REPEATEDLY. There are nuances with each hull and rigging setup that will only be discovered during an actual rescue. Where and when it will actually be possible to rescue a swamped boat is left to the readers judgement. In many cases, the only safe course of action will be to abandon the boat, and get the victim to safety ASAP. Attempting a swamp SOT kayak rescue while on the ocean, with wind waves and swell is very likely to involve injury to both the victim and rescuer.

Scott

Your getting into a whole new ballgame when you bring up rough water rescuing. It's worlds different then doing it in a pond. I think folks missed my point earlier when I said rough water survival requires instinctual thinking rather than logical. You can't infur anything about rough water from a pond. You can't simulate or re-create it. It's Mother ocean run amuck. The only place to train for it, is out there in it. Inflatable floatation added to displace water is the method of bringing your swamped boat home in rough water. It's not easy but it's not impossible Everything I post I've done---Numerous times. Sealed bulkheads defeat the purpose of having an open boat to stow long rods and gear. If you don't stow rods and gear bulkheads are the way to go but you'll still need to carry inflatable flotation to solo rescue.

Here are some pics of the various types of floatation and How I have used them.

The results of the duct tape test on a 5 gallon bucket with holes and slashes went better than expected. The key was to wet sand real good the area arround were the tape will be placed. No water got thru any of the four holes I repaired using:
1. Thick CA glue on a wire (cloths hanger dia)
2. 6 Minute epoxy on a wood dowell pressed into a 1/4in hole.
3. 6 Minute epoxy with no plug, but front and back duct taped for containment.
4. Regular duct tape front and back on a large slash. 4th removal/replaced in wet surface didn't stick any longer.
Let everything dry/cure for 20 minutes.
One "catch22" about all this foam talk is you may not be able to reach the inside surface to wet sand if you permanent foam, or gooped foam in place.
Craig
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Swellrider,
Scott and I didn't miss your poitn about rough water--we already knew it. We decided to test teh limits in calm water first to narrow down what might work and then we plan on testing this in rougher water in a Bay and then the ocean itself. We just didn't want to jump right to the rough water as the first try. What we learned is what we already expected--rescuing an SOT full of water without floatation is difficult and time-consuming in flat water and will be nearly impossible and dangerous in swell and seas--if not impossible. We came to this conclusion which I think is in line with yours: it is key to carry inflatable floatation sufficent to nearly fill your kayak so that water intrusion is significantly curtailed or intruding water can be forced back out by the floatation devices as they are inflated. All of this must be simple to do and fast or abandonment and fleeing onto another kayak is more prudent.

I will continue to search for a fast, sleek, manoeuverable sea kayak that is customizable, 15-16 feet in length, with either bulkheads and deck rod storage or internal rod space, with easily accessble storage space that is water tight, and surfs well. I am displeased to see most Amercian manufacturers trending towards barges with less and less incommon with a sea kayak--they are trying to turn bass-boat fisherman into paddlers rather than turning kayakers and athletic sportsman into kayak fishers. It's the wrong demographic for me and I think they 'll lose a lot of people once they paddle for a while because they'll grow out of the barges. Better to design a fishing kayak a beginning paddler can grow into. However,  a few North American, Canadian,and South African manufacturers seem to be on the right track. Kaskazi, Seda, Macski, Curretn Designs--they are leading the way with the South Africans well in the lead. There are some prototypes comign out and I will be trying them (I hope). I have high hopes that some good kayaks are coming.

I hear ya regarding boats and the tupperware mentality of some manufacturers. The problem with over-seas outfits is that they kill you on the shipping. Companies in Canada and Mexico have free-trade agreements. A small outfitter like myself will push boats like malibu, hobie, Wilderness systems, because it conforms to a working economic model of supply and demand. I'd like to see some of these other companies come online and hook up some dealers on the west coast. I'd buy a few