OutdoorsNB Inc - Efficient Kayak Re-Entry

Описание: OutdoorsNB Inc's Jeremy Cline discusses an Efficient Kayak re-entry:

So the roll didn't work......What now? How about we look at an efficient re-entry!

First step: Pull the cockpit skirt and hold on to your kayak. In our area of the world we are susceptible to tidal currents....a lot of them, and our kayak, well it's only in the water but a couple of inches so it's susceptible to wind. Holding your Kayak and your paddle will ensure they stay will you!

One of the reasons we at OutdoorsNB suggest, based on Transport Canada guidelines, that you use a Kayak no shorter than 13' and with bow and stern bulheads, (the complete wall in the hull that the titanic lacked) while paddling in open water, is for ease of removing the water from the cockpit. With bow and stern bulkheads only the cockpit fills with water, allowing the swimmer to lift on the bow or front of the Kayak as gravity forces the water in the cockpit towards the stern or back of the kayak where it hits bulkhead located just behind the seat and falls out.

Now many kayak instructional videos and courses will teach the use of a paddle float. I've already told you it's important to hold onto your Kayak and your paddle. What third hand will you use to get your paddle float and install it? Paddle leashes are an option but many times they result in the leash being wrapped around the kayak or worse wrapped around you in a time of panic. If you have your paddle with you the whole time you can use it to brace with at any point on the kayak, a leash limits how far back on the stern you can access it.

If bracing is a skill that we should all practice to increase our stability in the water, why not incorporate this skill into our re-entry....sure it will take a little longer to learn this re-entry and practice the muscle memory to increase your kayak's stability... but you're going to eventually have to learn this anyway.. why learn muscle memory with a paddle float and then have to re-learn it with bracing?

Using the bracing technique will actually help you with stability, it will help you with your sweep roll, it gets you out of cold water much faster than a paddle float and its just plain efficient something we all can appreciate. So why not practice this re-entry technique and leave your paddle float on the fore deck?