White Water Rescue Course

by Mandy Coxon

Run by Terry Bolland - One evening at Ascot Kayak Club and one day at Harvey slalom course.

Of course the great thing about running a course of any sort is that it gives the instructors plenty of opportunity to brush up on their skills. We'll come back to this topic later on but first let me tell you what a canoe rescue course is all about.

Well have you ever got yourself, your kayak, or ever seem someone else's wrapped around a tree or a rock. If you have it usually will have occurred mid stream and therein lies the reason why you need to attend the next Rescue Course. Yes, so you can get it back in one piece without putting anyone at risk.

As well as learning how to retrieve your gear from the river, we also discovered the correct way to swim down a river (on your back with your feet and bum in the air) and into an eddy (turn over and swim aggressively), useful for those times when your spray deck pops off just before you're able to complete your eskimo roll! We also tackled the seemingly mystical art of throwing the throw bag. Yes rather than keeping it tucked under your seat you should,when the need arises, get it out of the boat and position yourself to "protect" a rapid, making the descent safer for the rest of your party.

Even if you just want a couple of hours fun I recommend buying one of these invaluable objects, or making your own - I'm sure Terry is putting together a book on the subject, (I think in the performance tests the home made versions out manouvered the manufactured ones anyway). You can then while a way those spare hours practising your aim on a suitable object, preferably not the neighbours cat (15m is a minimum length - and maybe too short for some resuce situations where a 25m line maybe more appropriate). Then when you return to the riverbank you can practise for real by "rescuing" a volunteer from the water. Sounds simple? Well it really is a skill that needs to be practised as I, and my poor volunteer Colin Priest can testify. By the time I had tangled my throw line up on the slalom gate wires for the 5th time, with Terry stepping in to throw his lifeline yet again. (see what I mean about the Instructurs getting a chance to practise their skills), I had run out of willing volunteers.

To be serious for a second - a well positioned throw line can mean the difference between an easy rescue and a potentially fatal situation and is definitely a skill worth acquiring. The other point to remember is to brace yourself once your "swimmer" has grabbed the line - to avoid the situation of you being dragged into the river after them (a la Lorna "rescuing:" Robyn who ended up chasing after her down the river bed), luckily Terry had recoiled his throwbag in anticipation. It is good to practice being towed as well - the technique is to turn over onto your back and hold the line over your shoulder to avoid a face full of water.

Having mastered some of the important knots on the previous Thursday evening at Ascot we tested them out by constructing mock Z-drags across the gravel. This simple pulley system can give you up to 6:1 power ratio in your rescue system . With our knowledge of the Bow Line, Fishermans, knot, prussick loops etc we were equipped to rescue the Bull bar from Simon Thorpe's conveniently parked 4WD and later on resuced a log from one side of the river to the other. (Don't worry we eco-friendly paddlers returned it to the same place after the day's activities!).

We crossed the river with Zip lines set up between two trees to ensure we would reach the other side and practised rescuing an injured paddler.

Perhaps the most fun of the day (which wasn't watching Ewen trying to brew a cup of tea - rather reminiscent of Brian cooking noodles on slalom weekends) was working out how to set up a Telfar Lower to resuce a swimmer etc from the middle of a river when they can't be reached from the bank directly. This involves a lot of teamwork and co-ordination and lowers a swimmer on a safety line by use of a pulley system. Most importantly in any Rescue situation is the need to keep a clear head and act quickly however, so don't forget the simplest solution is usually the best.

The kit is fairly simple - a few caribiners, tape slings, throw lines, prussik cord and of course all the personal items such as a knife, whistle, PFD, helmet etc but it is invaluable and as Trip Leaders should encourage the more advanced paddler in their group to carry some of this kit to spread the load (besides you never know when you might need to be rescued!).

An enjoyable day, despite it being the coldest one for a while, which is to be recommended and it was encouraging to see so many junior members attending. Thanks to the BCE for running the course.

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