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Last weekend it was not the best weather to go paddling. However: for some people this was an opportunity for THE ultimate challenge.
Honoustly, although I love waves, I do not dare to think about finding myself in waves likes this.
BBC News wrote on Saturday, 1 December 2007, 17:38 GMT:
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Hans invited me for saterday-evening to try and exersize the bowrollrescue in the swimmingpool.
As I was on the run during the whole saterday, Hans was so kind to take one of his own kayaks with him: for me to paddle in. Thx.Hans
After a short "rolling warming-up" we started to try the rescue. First on an empty kayak which was (too) easy!?
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Having written yesterday about how to prevent hypothermia when paddling in surf, I realize now there is also another side of this story:
When one of your buddy's exited from the kayak and is swimming, not able to do a re-entry, he or she MUST get help to arrive as fast as possible to shore again!
Having heard a story that someone has to swim for 10 minutes to reach shore, OK - with 2 kayaks nearby but being bone-cold at the end and not being able to paddle anymore that day, I thought this was not the safest, best approach of the helpers.
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This blogpost is inspired by a growing enthusiasm, within the club where I am member, for kayaking in surf at the coast from Bakkum (Noord Holland); The direct result of having now storage for 5 kayaks at the beach, making it very easy to go paddling for an hour or so.
As I noticed that some new members, being very enthousiastic, keep on paddling although december is coming near, I was a little bit worried about them. Knowing they capsize regularly, I could not resist to warn them for hypothermia and to give some advices.
Having written an extended mail, I thought that the information fits perfect within my weblog and might be of use to somebody else: So that's why I translated the story underneath :
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You have to use all your skills and experience when you have to cross a shipping-lane. Better would be to prevent a foggy-crossing like that.
However when it might be necessary to make such a crossing once, be aware that you depend completely on the radar aboard ships AND the crew which is supposed to keep an eye on the radar.
Your ears are not allways of great help as some ships glide silently through the fog and are close before you notice.
As a kayak is a very low profile vessel, the visibility on a radar is not overwhelming. In the past quite a lot of investigations have been done and what I recall from that is that a choppy sea can make a kayak almost invisible as you are most of the time in between the waves. Even a radar-reflector is not considered as the ultimate solution.
Yet I found on internet that in 2004 an extensive visibility study has been carried out by also "the Maine Association of Sea Kayak Guides and Instructors", "Maine Sea Grant (university)" and "US Coast Guard".
A thorough research went throug different types and sizes of seakayaks, as well quite a lot of radar-reflectors (commercial- and home-made versions)
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At the moment I am busy adding older seakayak-testreports to the website. Working on the Breeze my thoughts went back to discussions, at the time, about the origin of this kayak: Although we were convinced then that the hull was more or less an exact copy of the Ligue de Bretagne (Plasmor) the builder never admitted this.
So when digitalizing the text, I started also looking for information about the Ligue de Bretagne and found out that Plasmor still exists.
The Ligue de Bretagne however is not being built anymore.
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When Hans Heupink, from the Dutch Kayak Association (NKB), asked me if I could arrange a double seakayak to make it possible to take someone from the Department of Transport and water Management around for a seakayaktour in the Voordelta at a spot which is going to be closed for free paddling in august 2008, I did not yet realize that I was the one who should paddle the kayak as well.
Standing at the spot on sunday morning I did not feel honoured, because there was surf at the beach with short steep, breaking waves and in the distance quite a lot of waves with white heads could be seen. No ideal conditions for the maidentrip of a newcomer to seakayaking, I thought.
Normally I would feel quit comfortable in those conditions, but keeping in mind that my passenger did have zero experience in kayaking and that my aim should be to deliver him a pleasant day which should NOT be a survival-day with capsizes in breaking waves, I was worried: Having un unexperienced kayaker aboard, having NO experience myself with this double kayak and not having practised if I could hold the kayak upright on my own in breaking waves.
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Underneath the report from the Dutch Rescue organisation: they practised at 3 nov. the resue of 5 kayakers from sea: suffering hart-problems and hypothermia.
KNRM (http://www.knrm.nl)
Noordwijk aan Zee, 4-11-2007T
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I just found a rescue-report about two kayakers in the UK who used an SMS as medium to ask for help. Although there are better ways, it worked and they were rescued.
However, as you can read below, the Coastguard made comments on that.
Maritime & Coastguard Agency (http://www.mcga.gov.uk)
Press Notice No: Duty Press Notice
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Posted 16:26 GMT
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Driving home I was re-thinking the BowRollRescue. At the end I concluded that the technique is not yet finished and could need some finetuning.
Not about the turning-technique: that's perfect.
To my opinion, there is one weak point in the technique. Better said: at the end of the technique.
I think that the victim, once turned up again, could be very, very instable and is very likely to capsize again because of 6 possible reasons: