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--- stories:rescue_avoidance [2023/01/14 02:34]
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-<<stories:rescue_comm|Previous Story^stories:bellingham_stories|Story List^stories:retrieving_the_surfski|Next Story>>
+<<stories:plbs|Previous Story^stories:bellingham_stories|Story List^stories:retrieving_the_surfski|Next Story>>
 ===== Avoiding the Need for Rescue =====
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 Go paddle.\\
 pc
+===== Avoiding Rescue =====
+**Michael Medler** 12/15/22 #32917
+As a 250 pound 60 year old who can’t balance on one foot, I am no one’s paddling guru. Nevertheless, I have a few opinions about all this. A decade ago I went through the traditional chain of skinnier boats finally leading up to a V10. It was great for racing and fun in the waves. However, I eventually had a “situation” on a cold winter downwinder. I came out of the boat and then missed a half-dozen remounts. I then spent about 10 exhausting minutes in the water and had my butt saved by some outrigger remount help. Besides rethinking my will, many other things became clear and promises were made.
+Most of all, there is a lot to say for staying in the boat in the first place and being able to remount easily in big winter wind if you come out. I now only paddle fat-boats in the winter. Honestly, the only downside is not being able to keep up with folks in skinnier boats on flatter water. But when I am out alone I never notice, and when I sideline my ego it is all a hoot. I can sit sideways couch-style in big conditions and the surfing is still just as fun, and upwind is actually fun too when I work on my rotation in the fat-boat.
+Surfing in a fat-boat is a blast. The best run I have ever had in the Hatch was in a borrowed V8. It was huge that day, but the whole thing was low-stress hootin’ and hollerin’. Admittedly, paddling the flatter water leading up to the Hatch was a slog, but it wasn’t a race.
+I know owning two boats is a stretch for those of us without a ski area, but it is like remount insurance. Not every winter paddling session needs to be like a race where you are in the fastest boat you can handle in a summer race on a lake.
+MM
+**robcasey **12/15/22 #32919
+I'm with you on stable boats for rough water paddling. I have a Carbonology Cruze 18'x21" and its still faster than any sea kayak I've paddled and can surf and paddle big waters including surf on the Strait with never a worry of capsizing. Definitely not fast off the finish line but still fast enough with others paddling in bumps as I'm focused on going forward vs stability.
+In sup races we've seen the same, the 21" boards may be fastest on flat water but usually end up swimming a lot in bumps, boat wakes, tidal current etc.
+**DDatHot@…**12/16/22 #32925
+I have been reading (almost) all the responses, related threads, and even re-read the details of Dan's writeup. Learning what I can vicariously has always seemed pretty inexpensive to me. I am a fairly new paddler (2 summers in the Gorge) and have yet to summon the courage to come up to B'Ham and get schooled in a very different body of water. So "listen and read" has been my approach here, waiting for someone to point out what seemed to me as being really significant in my first reading of Dan's account. If it has been mentioned, then I am reiterating it here under the "Avoiding Rescue" idea.
+Safety systems MUST work or they should be modified until they DO work. Not just rescue systems, but safety systems, and in this context I am talking about leash(es). Coming from other disciplines where you can kill yourself (and people have) if your gear doesn't work, Dan's description of tangling leashes (i.e. radio and boat leashes), and more importantly having to spend extra time in the difficult conditions/cold water repeatedly unwrapping his boat leash from the rudder and the boat plug… well, this stuck out to me. One of the first paddler-in-trouble stories I heard here in the Gorge was someone who was using 2 different boat leash systems and the leashes became tangled making for a traumatic experience on an otherwise fun day. I use a waist leash. From studying other people's setups and a little (lot) of huli experience, I'm aware of a few of its drawbacks, and also it's strengths. I have seen here in the Gorge some waist leash setups that are not well thought out, and it is just a matter of fortune as to whether the owner has a bad day in the future. I have even managed to get my waist leash tangled with my hat leash. Although that sounds trivial, that 1 experience illustrated the potential hazard of using multiple leash/string-things at the same time. Hence I am still flip-flopping on the relative merits/drawbacks of a paddle leash that is always connected.
+So. Long winded. However, in my previous experiences with climbing and sail boats and kiting, safety systems that are as foolproof as possible are a key factor in avoiding rescue. The more hazardous the environment, the more critical this becomes. Once I have to give up on self-rescue, I am in the waters of fortune and reliance on others that I simply do not want to be in. Thanks Dan, for surviving (!), and for providing a near-home, real-life working session to give this community a chance to gain from vicarious learning. Don't want to ever be out there, waiting, hoping, wondering about my radio, or recent budget cuts to the Coast Guard. Sayin'…
+David D

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