Re: Re enter

Posted by LeeG on Jul 6, 2007

My experience teaching basic rescues is that people who used rigging were just as likely to push the paddle out of the rigging with their leg or put their weight on the shaft and breaking it (especially nice wood paddles).

If you rely on your body weight and hand position to secure the paddle against the coaming then you eliminate the shifting support/tilting hull that can occur when a 200lb body and 50lb kayak move a 2lb paddle loosely attached by a rubber band. Using bungies to improve that connection is like using bungies to tie a kayak on the roof of a car. It's not a good connection.

In rough water the bungies will have even less effectiveness compared to the 200lb paddler securing the shaft with their weight and keeping their body low/centered and moving swiftly.

Varnished and wet kayaks are slick as snot, that's the reason for putting a small patch of rubber or vinyl non-skid right behind the coaming for the paddle shaft to rest on.

If you look at Prijon kayaks and some other manufacturers of rotomolded kayaks and composite kayaks the decks are bit rough in places while the hull is smooth. Besides rigging this facillitates handling the kayak in rescues

In Response to: Re: Re enter by Jim E on Jul 6, 2007

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