Mike Aronoff: Mike Aronoff, Canoe, Kayak and Paddle Company. When you are in a kayak, the equivalent of a spare tire is having a paddle float and a pump. That allows you to do a paddle float self-rescue, that's what we're going to demonstrate now. Boat over and there is no one to help him, capsizes, wet exits, stays down wind of the kayak so that the boat will blow on top of him, not away. Gets his paddle float out, puts his leg in the cockpit to keep control of the kayak and not loose it. Paddle float goes on into the paddle and is then inflated. He makes sure that he clips it together so that the paddle float can blow off. Takes a few blows, this paddle float has got two chambers and that's always a good idea to have a little bit of redundancy.
He flips the boat back over by flipping the kayak away from him so it takes in less water and he then puts the paddle blade in the paddle float rigging so that he can use the paddle and the paddle float as an outrigger to support him while he gets back into the boat. Now he is going to be in front of the paddle, close to the cockpit and he puts his ankle over the paddle shaft, poses himself up and straightens his leg to get on top of the kayak with his head towards the stern. One leg is in, two legs are in, keeps his weight and his eye on the paddle float so that it doesn't capsize the other way, gets himself situated, feed on the pegs, skirt on. You leave the paddle float inflated and in place until you got everything else taken care of. What he has to do now in order to get the water out of the kayak is to pump it.
Its other alternative would be, paddle it back to shore full of water. That was a paddle float self-rescue, that was depended upon the swimmer having the strength to pull himself up on top of the kayak using just his arms. A lot of folks need a little and for that we use a thing called swing. Eric is going to rig the swing and that swing is nothing more than just a piece of the same whipping that we used to tie the kayak on top of our vehicle. So, we got the strap rig by placing the strap on the outside of the boat paddle blade, he wraps it around the -- inside of the paddle shift between the strap itself and the kayak so that it stays in place. He can now use that as a step, and he puts foot in the step and uses -- that way he can use his legs' strength to get back on top of the kayak. So, this is very helpful for a lot of people and it makes a lot of sense to carry a swing, it could be your best friend sometime. And there you have it, paddle float self-rescue with and without a swing.
There is a lot of different rescues and another one that you can use with a paddle float, if you have enough underwater comfort, is called a re-enter and roll using the paddle float. I'm going to demonstrate that, you're going to see me doing the first part, which is fall out of the boat and wet exit. Then I'm going to put my paddle float on the paddle, I'm going to get my body back in the kayak underwater and then use the paddle float to help me roll up from that capsize position into smiling and upright.
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