Incident Management at Fort Wetherill - September 15, 2024

Discussing towing in the Dumplings

I decided to attend RICKA’s Incident Management session at fort Wetherill. We regularly practice assisted rescues on trips, but this would be an opportunity to practice more advanced rescues in real conditions.

We met at 9:00 at Fort Wetherill. Seas were calm and wind was from the west as we launched. We paddled out around Bull Point to practice towing in the easy tidal current around the Dumplings. I got to try out my new tow belt with short (15-foot) and long (50-foot) tows. On my tow rope there are two carabiners to unclip - one for short tows and a second for long tows.

Demonstrating the scoop rescue

On short tows my tow belt worked fine. I towed one person by clipping on to one deck line with clip up. Clicking on to one line will allow the tow will continue even if the anchor holding the deck line releases. Clicking on from the bottom with the clip up reduces the likelihood the clip with hit something and release.

I towed two people (rafted tow) by running the tow line through one deck line of the assist boat and clipping into one line of the victim boat with the clip up. This allows the assist boat to reach the carabiner to unclip the line if needed. The short tow line works great when you need to get some quickly away from a hazard, like rocks.

Two paddlers out of the boat

The longer tow works better when you are towing for a long distance – especially in swells so you don’t get run over by the towed boat as it comes down the face of the swell. On long tows, the knot and clip in the middle of my tow line created drag and a one point snagged a clump of sea grass that made it tough to paddle. I might consider removing the second clip and daisy-chaining the rope for shorter tows.

After using the tow belt we practiced contact towing with the person being towed simply grabbing the deck lines of the rescue boat and pushing/pulling the bows/sterns together depending on which way we were going. We practiced pulling boats out of the rocks with tow lines and contact tows as we worked our way along the rocky coast over to Mackerel Cove.

Getting Tim back in his boat

As we rounded one headland we saw Kelly out of her boat holding her arm like she had a dislocated shoulder. Cam was able to get her back in her boat using a scoop rescue. The scoop rescue is used to float a tired or injured paddler into a partially submerged boat, which is then rolled back up, pumped out, and towed to safety with a rafted tow. 

The seas were choppier with winds from the south as we headed back out after lunch. If you spend enough time playing in rocks you will eventually come out of your boat, and Tim demonstrated swimming out of the rocks as a proactive way to get yourself to safer water. 

Reviewing the hand of god rescue

When you are in the water near the rocks, the first thing that you need to do is get yourself to a safe position the with kayak between you and the rocks. Then you can flip the boat over, attach the tow line to the boat, and aggressively swim out of the rocks, all while holding on to the paddle. Tim did fine, and once he was in calmer water Bill and Eric got him back in his boat.  

We worked our way back along the shore continuing to practice assisted deep water rescues, scoop rescues (I did an anchor tow on one), two-out-of-the-boat self-rescues using one boat as an outrigger to get the first paddle in, and hand of god rescues. 

More rescue practice

The hand of god rescue is used to right a kayaker that can’t come out of their boat because they are unconscious or just can’t get the spay deck off. It involves a tricky combination of pushing down on the inside edge while pulling up the outside to right the boat with the paddler still in it - not easy. 

We got back to Fort Wetherill around 4:00 after a long day of practice. I learned a lot, but also realized how much I still have to learn.

View to Newport as we had back to Fort Wetherill

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Video of 2024 RICKA Sea Kayak Training Sessions