An Eventful Upper Millers Run

TommyC1 · Post by **TommyC1** » Sun Apr 10, 2011 12:17 pm

We got plenty of rescue and boat wrangling practice yesterday including from a couple of young guys who thought that rec kayaks with no skirts or flotation were OK.
I felt bad for the swimmers but found the practice useful and instructive.

Open boaters, if you are going to put painters on your boat, PLEASE make sure that they can be deployed quickly and easily. I got very frustrated twice when a painter on a lose boat was tangled in the float bag lashing.
My apologies to anyone who heard me cursing. I was not mad at you.

A swamped rec yak in a class II+ rapid has surprising majesty, not to mention mass. I opted to stay clear until it stopped on it's own. Lucky for the owner it pinned, lightly, with the cockpit down above a nice eddy near the shore.
Apparently the grab loops on rec yaks are not strong enough to be usefull in even a light pin. Fortunately Dan had a huge biner on his throwbag. I was able to clip that around the cockpit coaming and Dan and the owners bud were able to free and recover the boat like they were landing a fish. I always thought that huge biner was goofy. Now I'm looking for one.

It's tough to tuck a painter under your knee in a decked boat. Another reason why open boats are better.
With a little luck you can tow an OC1 across a wide II+ rapid holding the painter with your paddle in your bottom hand. Still I see a rescue vest with cowtail in my future.

A question for you decked boaters. You've towed a boat to shore. But the eddies are tiny with just enough current that you can't quite secure the damned thing. In an open boat I'd jump out and tie the runaway off. What do I do in a decked boat?

Larry Horne · Post by **Larry Horne** » Sun Apr 10, 2011 3:19 pm

Contrary to popular opinion of open boaters, we can indeed jump out of our boats. Some quicker than others, but dude, we aren't in a straight jacket

..at least I'm not.
I don't use a tow teather because I don't care enough about any loose boat to clip onto one. I've seen kayakers get themselves into big trouble towing boats in suprisingly easy water. Apparently it's not easy to unclip while your desperately paddling.. getting pulled backwards into a rapid...
I like to bulldoze, hopefully with the help of one or two more boaters. It's safe if you pay attention to where your at, and effective. If there's a pool, I might use my webbing held in my hand to tow a boat that's been emptied, but it's really rare.

I never liked the idea of painters on a whitewater boat. I know you guys have your reasons but I don't get it. Grab loops work just fine. Fact is that ropes in water are EVIL, even when one end is held be a person. A rope tied to a loose boat though...

.

oopsiflipped · Post by **oopsiflipped** » Mon Apr 11, 2011 10:28 am

ha! rec boats on whitewater are always a hoot. there were a couple guys on the pigeon laset year who had put on the pigeon. they put on before the power plant started releasing, probably 200 cfs or so. i think they were having a good day til the other 1000 cfs caught up to them near the end of the run. one of them had 'flat pinned' (sunk) on the bottom.\

on the other subject, i clipped into a boat to tow it to the other side of a pool this weekend, but that's about it for me. being clipped to a canoe sounds like a bad idea!

Smurfwarrior · Post by **Smurfwarrior** » Mon Apr 11, 2011 12:34 pm

I almost died from being clipped onto a boat with a proper safety vest and pigtail. I won't do that again, and like what was said above, flipping it over and bulldozing is the way to go IMHO.

Shep · Post by **Shep** » Mon Apr 11, 2011 12:46 pm

When I've tried to tow a boat with my rescue vest, the pigtail wasn't long enough (and I ended up flipping over anyway). When running safety for tandem whitewater, I have found it useful to take the painter, throw one wrap around the thwart in front of the stern paddler, and put your knee on top of the end.

Last summer, we saw two guys running the Seboomook section of the Penobscot in those little 1-person catarafts. The really looked like they knew what they were doing... Running pretty good lines, choosing to portage some things, surfing in some places. But they weren't wearing helmets.

It was kindof surreal.

Shep

Brewbeer · Post by **Brewbeer** » Mon Apr 11, 2011 1:14 pm

For those of us who don't have a roll (including me), I’ve found that a short (~10 feet) painter makes self-rescue much, much easier. Effective swimming while holding a grab loop in one hand and a paddle in the other is very difficult. With a painter it is usually possible to reach a relatively safe spot quickly, then pull the boat in with the rope.

I ran the Millers for the first time with a group on Saturday. I can’t imagine anyone running a skirtless kayak down that run. The run is through a roadless valley so once you start, there is no way to bail part-way. Must have been a swim filled, frustrating run.

TommyC1 · Post by **TommyC1** » Mon Apr 11, 2011 3:54 pm

Smurfwarrior wrote:I almost died from being clipped onto a boat with a proper safety vest and pigtail. I won't do that again, and like what was said above, flipping it over and bulldozing is the way to go IMHO.

Since I'm seriously considering a proper safety vest and pigtail would you mind telling more about what went wrong?

Smurfwarrior · Post by **Smurfwarrior** » Mon Apr 11, 2011 6:02 pm

Read through this thread. Lots of good advise

http://www.cboats.net/cforum/viewtopic. ... rf&start=0

jatakasawa · Post by **jatakasawa** » Mon Apr 11, 2011 6:23 pm

The art of self rescue has been coming up pretty frequently. Fortunately, we get some practice when we start whitewater canoeing and each time we move up to more difficult runs.

Some key things I've learned from others.

Smerda had a nice post about flipping your boat over so it's right side up. It's easier to push around that way.

Keep behind your boat. I swim on my stomach and try to push the boat with the hand that has the paddle. It keeps the paddle from slowing you down in the water too! (Sometimes I just completely flip out and let go of my paddle in a shear panic ....but that totally doesn't work

)

If it starts to get nasty, forget about your boat and get yourself to an eddy, rock or shoreline. Haven't you seen enough empty boats style a rapid after you stopped screwing up the line!?!? Chances are it will end up in an eddy within a few hundred yards downstream.

Personally, I feel like ropes belong in the throwbag only. I hate the idea of tethers, painters and tow lines. The probability of their misuse seems to me to be greater than their chance of being used properly. I don't want to open an argument here because I know the value of pin-kits and have seen tethers used properly and all that but for this 'newbie' I'm keeping it simple out there.

Another strike against ropes is the knife. It's good to have the knife but conditions really have to be right in order to use it. By the time you realize you need the knife you may be within 10-20 seconds of passing out...so I'm all set with adding more ropes to the scene besides a good throw rope.

Self rescue is definitely a skill. Your head is the best tool you can keep. Pun intended!

Justin-aka Cornball

Craig Smerda · Post by **Craig Smerda** » Mon Apr 11, 2011 6:43 pm

http://vimeo.com/15417111

Have any of you ever seen "painters" tied on a kayak?

I prefer to attach my throwbag to my airbag lacing. In the case of some rare and totally wierd occasion I'd need to "line" my boat I can use it for that. I can also unclip it in a matter of seconds if I need to set safety or toss it to another paddler. In the event I became completely seperated from the boat another paddler can tie the throwrope to the grab loop, toss the the bag to me and I can drag it across the river to myself if we're close enough.

With firsthand experience I can tell you that I'm very uncomfortable with the use of tow tethers in whitewater, tying extra rope onto a boat or having any kind of rope "attached" to my body. If you've ever been tangled up in a rope... you'd understand exactly why.

It's just a boat folks... it's not worth getting hurt over.

fleckbass · Post by **fleckbass** » Mon Apr 11, 2011 7:24 pm

Recently, There has been a couple of times that I was fortunate to have the L'edge surf the shid out of a hole for awhile until it was ready to be collected.

pblanc · Post by **pblanc** » Mon Apr 11, 2011 9:39 pm

Having taken many more swims on whitewater out of an open boat than I would like to admit to, and having self-rescued virtually 100% of the time, I agree with brewbeer's position on painters.

There have been many times in which I was able to partially release my stowed painter while swimming with my boat so as to allow me to swim into an eddy and then pull the boat in after. In quite a few cases, I was paddling lead on a group trip and I would definitely have either lost my boat, or taken a much longer swim, if I had not had a painter attached.

I have not always found it beneficial to flip the boat right side up when swimming with it. It is true that the water footprint is more efficient that way, but if the rocker of the boat allows it to float upside down on its airbags, it is often much lighter than a water-filled boat flipped right side up.

My usual method for open boat self rescue is to hang onto the paddle, get to the upstream end and get a hold of the grab loop to which my painter is tied. I then either stow the paddle under the airbag lacing or throw it on shore or into an eddy to free both hands. I will pull out enough painter to be able to use both arms to swim and I will pull out more, if necessary, to get all the way into an eddy. My painter is coiled and stowed under a shock cord on the deck, so it is easy to leave as much or as little stowed as needed.

Post by **sbroam** » Tue Apr 12, 2011 12:18 am

+1 for painters of reasonable length and tidily secured until needed. I only have one on the SF (rear) because it kind of got in the way in the bow and the stern really isn't that far away on such a short boat. I've got it woven through the lacing so I can tug it out. Having a few feet of "tail" has come in handy many, many times...

I think that flipping the boat upright is a no brainer with a small bagged/foamed out boat and *usually* a good idea with a big one (sharp rocks + bags...)

Lappie · Post by **Lappie** » Tue Apr 12, 2011 12:26 am

I'm a painter fan as well, but the difference here is that I use a small throw bab, so all the rope is nicely tucked inside and not in the way. the bag is then put under a bunggy on the ends plate. The bonnus here is that you can use the bags as throw bags if you need to and that you have alot of rope to make it to shore without having an anchor pulling you down stream! Just like Pblanc, I did and do my share of swimming and and would not go with out them!!

YTcanoe · Post by **YTcanoe** » Tue Apr 12, 2011 12:36 am

I've previously been anti - painters. I've relied on towbelts and cowtails when neccessary and appropriate.

A situation occured last season that I'd never considered. I needed to quickly leave my boat to rush upstream for a rescue. I found myself in a tiny eddy under a 5 foot bank topped with a wall of trees. No readily available way to beach or secure my boat.

This year all boats will get a short bow painter, primarily for quick tie ups.

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An Eventful Upper Millers Run

An Eventful Upper Millers Run

Art of self recue