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To get into the mood to write this article, Mike McCrea practises the Caber Toss with his Fuller Brush teasing comb. He plans to use this skill in lieu of diplomacy, much like the ancient Scots

"Over... and Out -
Deep Water Kayak Rescue Techniques"

produced by Garnock Canoe Club, Scotland
a video review by canoer Mike McCrea
(with giggly apologies to the filmmakers)

The deep water rescue techniques video “OVER…and OUT” is a sea kayak video produced by the Garnock Canoe Club, a Scottish sea kayaking club. Why those silly buggers across the pond still refer to kayaks as canoes is beyond me…too much haggis and single malt perhaps. Of course they also refer to canoes as Canadians. You don’t want to know what they call Canadians.

This rescue technique video begins with a basic overview of equipment and clothing. Actually, it begins with a “What's wrong with this picture” episode in which two young kayakers ham it up while making every mistake possible after a wet exit. More on that later.

The video presents a variety of rescue techniques. The Ipswich (or H-I) and X-Rescue techniques will look familiar to summer camp canoeists of years gone by, as both involve inverting the capsized boat and pulling it across the upright hull of the rescuer’s craft to empty the water. Anyone familiar with gel coat repairs could only cringe as the rescuers scrape a water-filled sea kayak across their decks in demonstrating these bow-over style rescues.

The three “Eskimo” rescues demonstrated will look equally familiar to whitewater kayakers, all involving some variation of a Hand-of-God assist (hand, bridged paddle or bow assistance) as demonstrated. These rescuer techniques don’t actually involve the “out” portion of the title, in which a wet exit is performed, just the “over”.

The Hand-of-God colloquialism is easy to understand – just flip a kayak and don’t wet exit. Instead wave your hand around in the air beside your overturned boat with increasing desperation until you either run out of oxygen or someone comes alongside to offer you the leverage of their bow or hand. A little oxygen deprivation, a little prayer and voila, you too will grasp the Hand of God.

The self-rescue techniques shown are most unique to sea kayakers. The paddle float rescue and the re-entry & roll rescue will be familiar to open water butt-boaters. The third self-rescue technique was the most innovative, involving a specially outfitted hull with receiver sockets on each side to accommodate the ferrule end of a take-apart paddle. The paddles, once installed in the receivers, form lateral spreaders to stabilize the kayak during re-entry.

Watching the paddle float self-rescue performed in relatively calm seas illustrates why this may not be the maneuver of choice in rough waters. In fact, the differences in sea conditions in the various segments of the video illustrate well the difficulty even slightly choppy seas can cause for rescuers and rescuees.

The final sequence, the all-in rescue, involving multiple swimmers and no upright boats, brought to mind a club paddling trip some years ago in which a group of companions paddled the first 7 miles of a fastwater river with grace and style, whereupon there were multiple, sudden and inexplicable capsizes all within fifty yards of the take out.

Having watched the video once to familiarize myself with the presentation and techniques demonstrated I watched it a second time with a couple of folks who are more experienced in sea kayaks than I. Those folks being my 11 ands 13 year old sons.

Unfortunately, the combination of the video’s Scottish brogue narration, the hammy initial capsize sequence and my boys have seen a bit too much Monty Python resulted in the volume being turned down and substitute dialogue being provided. Along these lines:

“Roight, Nigel’s pitched ovah again, ‘as ee?”

“Clumsy oaf, that's the fifth toime ‘es capsized today.”

“Now ‘e’s waving ‘is ‘and in the air, wots ‘at all about then?”

“Oooh, look, I think ‘e’s pointin’ at that bird.”

“It’s an English sparrow, carrying a coconut…”

Mixing Scottish instructional videos and young Monty Python fans may have unintended consequences.

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For Punters in North America the video is available in NTSC at Great River Outfitters or in NTSC or PAL from the producers at Stable Recordings.

Also recommended: Deep Trouble from Sea Kayaker Magazine

FROM THE FORTIFIED STORY VAULT:

Cartopping a Small Boat 2/00

Leslie Buys a Kayak and Smuggles it Through Customs 2/00

Paddling through Yakima Canyon 4/99