Learning Experience

[Capt Brady Bounds]

So I'm sure that all are aware that I intiated a kayak ferry/taxi/shuttle service and a mothership service. That is not recent news. However in my quest to be a great guide, and to familiarize myself with the equipment, I have recently, after forty years, started yaking again.

With some assistance from my local Hobie dealer,www.bluhavenpiers.com I have acquired a demo Outback, to hone my skills.

And today it began. I traveled to St Inigoes State Park at the end of Beachville Rd to the public boat ramp, carrying the Outback in my pickup truck. I didn't carry along fishing gear because my purpose was to practice self-rescue and work out the finer points of pedal drive and sitting on top, something that I'd never experienced before.

I did pack my car keys, wallet and cell phone in sealed tupperware, inside a gallon ziplock bag, and placed that inside the center sealed well.

After I determined that I was in five feet of water, I intentionally rolled out & over the port side and turned turtle with the Outback hull floating completely inverted.

I then learned my first lesson. Even with a PFD on, the clothes that one chooses to wear, is a big deal once in the water. I was wearing cotton denum blue jeans, two tee shirts, socks, slip-on loafers, eyeglasses and a ball cap. My soda drink went floating away, as did my ball cap and a pair of rubber fish gloves. I got entangled in a piece of crab line that had been coiled on the yak and had to turn a few swimming strokes to catch the yak that was trying to drift away. When I caught it, I was in depths over my head and I couldn't flip the yak upright. I tried a couple of ways and then I remembered something I'd seen on snaggedline....using the crabline over the hull tied to a handle , I pushed the gunwale closest to me away and pulled the line flipping the yak upright. By now I was in water where I could barely touch the bottom with my shoes, amazingly still on my feet. So of course, I tried the kip-up onto the side technique and couldn't quite do it. I was able to use an old canoe technique of climbing onto the stern and dragging myself forward straddling the hull , until I could seat myself into the proper position. Then using the paddle, I was able to immediately pickup my floating objects, and I was rescued....sorta.

I pedaled to shore and took everything out of the yak except the paddle, drive system, PFD and went back out into deep water. Bottom line, I struggled and could not perform the self rescue from the side, but I got close several times. I think I'm going to have to practice that.

I'm determined to conquer these techniques for two reasons: I plan to be yak fishing as well as guiding in the immediate future, and second, I think knowing how to operate a kayak is critical to being able to provide a top notch kayak service. And since I am committed to serving kayaks, I'm going to need considerable practice and reliable skills.

I'll keep you informed ; it should be amusing.

[Capt C-Hawk]

Any video?

[Southerly]

congrats for you - i wish everyone would do that. the water's good temp right now.

getting back going takes a lot of effort. if i could add a suggestion it might be to practice turning the yak over several times while standing in waist deep water to get familiar with your best leverage etc. break the process down into a couple smaller tasks and practice which ever one you're worst at the most. then be confident in your actual ability.

in WS'g there was a getting-started-again routine that was also very effortsome, but often resulted in a re-do when the wind ripped the gear out of your hands etc. i became accustomed to the idea of relaxing and getting my bearings and breath before the big effort, and be willing to do it over and over if it failed the 1st couple times w/o being too easily discouraged.

as soon as i get a chance, i'm going to practice some standing up paddling. not something i plan to do in cold water, but i would like to have a really good idea how much risk i'm exposing my gear to if i want to stand and fish.

[Redfish12]

Sounds like you learned a lot! I think the outback is pretty tough to flip back over, especially with the drive and all the other stuff we load on it. Did you leash your drive? It's not likely in calm water for it to fall out, but it's an expensive replacement!

I always make everyone I take out practice getting back in before I take them out of freshwater, definitely a good thing and gives them more confidence about being on the kayak too. Maybe we should organize a self rescue practice soon?

[ictalurus]

Sounds like a productive trip. You should've given me a holler, and I could've met you after work. It sounds like your first practice was better than mine. I tried climbing in on the same side I had the paddle strapped to. The paddle came loose and nearly clocked me in the face. That wasn't optimal.

I found that climbing back into the Outback was harder than my Tarpon, Manta Ray, or Revo because of the tall, square gunwales. There are a couple tricks to the side entry, one of which I haven't tried. What I usually do is push myself under a little bit, then pull and kick at the same time and use the buoyancy of the vest to assist getting over the gunwale. Joe (Comeonfish) suggested laying out flat in the water kind of face-down and just pulling yourself into the yak rather than trying to "climb" in while remaining vertical. I haven't tried that yet, but it does sound easier.

I found the PFD design matters, too. I have a PFD with some buckles on the front, and they get hung up on the gunwale, especially on the Outback, which has a lot of edges. The one I usually wear is more smooth on the front. I don't think I could climb back in very easily while wearing a "fishing" PFD because they tend to have lots of big pockets on the front.

[Yak Fish]

Holy crap, Capt Brady! You shoulda warned us before you went off to try not drowning yourself!

I've gotten out of the yak twice now...both times to retrieve sunken equipment. One time was successful, the other not so much. I found that if you sink down low into the water while holding the side of the kayak, you can thrust up by pulling with your arms and kicking with your legs enough to get your torso onto the kayak. From there, kick like hell until you can claw the rest of the way.

[ComeOnFish]

Self Rescue Videos

Capt. Brady,
Perhaps one day we can practice together. Let me know if you want to get together. I carry a dive knife (on my leg or PFD) to cut the lines ( line can be my own fishing lines)
Here are my videos about the self-rescue (SOT only):
The following is all about uprighting a kayak:


The group self- rescue practice (I and SurfDog organized some self-rescue practices). On the 33 second mark on the next video he show the best technique. It is not quite clear on the video. The idea is keeping body horizontally not vertically RIGHT BEFORE THE PULL. It is not climbing onto the kayak, rather sliding onto the kayak horizontally.


Here is my old video about self rescue. I am using a small kayak for re-entry. The re-entry technique on the video is not for everyone. But there is good info about what can go wrong when turtled – which I actually experienced:

[MetroMan]

One thing I purposely avoided was rigging a bunch of stuff on my gunwales. I can only imagine all that stuff makes the whole re-entry process a bear. Nice clean sides make for an easier re-entry. Clean cockpit.

[tufnik]

I watched all three vids. Good stuff. Thanks for posting, Joe.