I was reading http://sandybottomkayaker.blogspot.com/ and thinking about how she set up her very high decked Kruger with a stirrup because there was no other way for her to get on that high high Kruger deck. I decided to set up a semi-permanent stirrup on my boat so I could have it ready to show others when we practice together.
When I used the stirrup I felt it was working in opposition to everything I knew about getting back in the boat. The stirrup leads you to push it down and climb into the boat like mountain climber getting up a mountain or a person using the stairs or a ladder.
In all other rescues I show paddlers that they must keep their entire body in the surface and especially their feet by kicking and churning the water surface. I've always said "You can never climb into a kayak. You must swim onto it". But I was so wrong! With a stirrup you can climb onto your boat. Just don't plan to learn any other reentry methods until you change your mindset away from climbing.
If you think of swimming on the surface of the water, then you may find the traditional SOT re-entry and the paddle float re-entry work better.
No comments:
Post a Comment