Over-the-Side Speed rescue

Lessons Learned
When we are close to home and out for an afternoon of paddling, the familiar surroundings tend to lower our perception of risk, especially if we know that emergency rescue services are readily available. Patrick had often paddled to the Chatham Islands, and for him there was nothing unusual about paddling alone across that busy channel in a current running up to four knots. This section of the Victoria shoreline is a popular area for experienced local paddlers to practice their skills, and many make the crossing of the channel to the Discovery Islands. While the area is considered by many to be the local playground, it has also been the scene of a number of kayaking accidents.
Patrick now feels that he was lulled into a false sense of security by the familiar and seemingly benign circumstances and was not sufficiently alert at the time the breaking wave arrived. He recalls being very relaxed at the time he capsized and believes that his nonchalant response to the approach of the wake resulted in a poorly executed high brace and the subsequent disabling injury.
To his credit, he had reduced the risk of cold-water immersion by wearing a wetsuit. He had also taken several kayaking courses and had practiced his skills to the point of feeling prepared to perform a self-rescue if it became necessary to do so. His training contributed to his ability to remain calm throughout his capsize and wet exit, but he was unprepared for the injury to his arm and the obstacle it created in getting back in his kayak.
Many of us train and practice to be stronger, more skillful kayakers, but fail to consider the possibility that we may be incapacitated to some degree by injury, illness or exhaustion. We regularly make a risk assessment before we depart the beach based on weather reports and tide tables, on the gear we have with us and on an assumption of normal health and fitness. Chronic or traumatic injuries to a wrist, elbow or shoulder are infrequent but common to sea kayaking. The possibility of injury should be taken into account in our training and in our assessment of risk.

Coping with Injury
It’s common to practice bracing and rescue skills in rough sea conditions, but generally we don’t practice techniques to perform self-rescues while simulating injury or other impairment. The training regimens among Greenland kayakers include a long tradition of preparing for the possibility of injury or entanglement while hunting. To recover from incidents similar to Patrick’s, they developed rolls that kayakers could do with one arm. While the variety of Greenland rolls may not be possible to perform with contemporary kayaks and euro-paddles, practicing wet exits and reentries using just one arm could provide valuable insight into coping with an injury. It would be best to learn to deploy a paddle-float or stirrup with one hand in a practice session when you’re not in a survival situation. It’s also very important that paddlers have the mental preparation and decision-making capacity to make the most of these special techniques at the time they’re needed.

Practicing Mental Preparedness
Capsizing into the trough of a steep wave is not uncommon. A sudden high-brace into a deep trough can place a great deal of stress on the shoulders. After a failed brace or roll, the paddler’s shoulders are again at risk, as a second attempt to high brace is often aggressive and forceful and done from an awkward position. If you find yourself faced with a situation that requires a difficult high brace, allowing yourself to capsize and roll back up can be a more controlled and safer response. Patrick thinks he could have avoided the injury by not struggling to high-brace. He feels certain that relaxing, allowing himself to capsize, then rolling up would have been a simple, easy and successful alternative. Frequent practice of rolling and bracing in a wide variety of paddling conditions will help you stay relaxed and confident and better able to set up and execute a safe and controlled roll, with elbows low and close to the torso.
Physical skills are only useful when mental control is present. Practicing the mental skills that allow us to assess situations, choose plans of action and implement our best bracing, rolling, wet-exits and reentries when we need them. Practice sessions that simulate injuries, distractions, changing circumstances and limited performance times provide an excellent way to develop the mental agility necessary for effective rescues under difficult circumstances. Frequent practice will help us make assessments and decisions quickly even while under considerable stress.
Patrick had practiced wet-exits and reentries but had not prepared himself to respond to an unexpected injury. After his capsize in Baynes Channel, he didn’t think to use the pig-tail tow-line he was wearing to secure himself to his kayak, leaving his uninjured arm to raise the paddle or reach into the kayak for emergency equipment. Just as it is with physical skills we practice, the mental techniques we practice diligently will be the ones we have available at the time of unexpected circumstances.
It took three months of rest and rehabilitation before Patrick’s shoulder was strong enough for him to paddle a sea kayak. He is now paddling again, but he takes his local waters more seriously now and carries flares and a marine VHF radio.
The Shoulder

Doug Alderson is a senior instructor trainer for the Canadian Recreational Canoeing Association and the author of three books on sea kayaking. His Handbook of Safety and Rescue, co-authored by Michael Pardy, (Ragged Mountain Press, McGraw-Hill, 2003) describes many rescue techniques and deals in-depth with judgment, trip planning and decision making for rescue, and includes an appendix on Mental Shorthand for Decision Making.