You’re cold, you’re wet, you’re exhausted. The uncomfortable, stinging sensation of sea water in your nasal passage is the least of your problems. Of bigger concern is the even more horrible, sinking feeling that your roll has failed you and you are not quite sure what to do next.

Don’t worry, you have a paddle float. Simply slip it on one end, put the other blade under the deck lines and climb back in. Easy! You practiced it once in a calm bay a few weeks ago, remember? Ah…but that was calm. And if this water was calm, you wouldn't be clinging to the side of your boat right now wishing you’d bought a one-piece instead of a two-piece drysuit!

You might never experience this kind of dilemma. After all, you never paddle alone and you don’t go into rough water. You’ve also got quite a good roll. You don’t need to be able to self-rescue….Do you?

But what if one day you did fancy taking that solitary paddle to set your mind free? To lose yourself in that peaceful, ethereal world all solo sea kayakers have experienced. Or what if both yourself and your paddle buddy find yourselves swimming? Yes, it could happen. At least one, if not both, of you will need to know how to self-rescue. No amount of preparation and planning will ever completely remove the risk of the unexpected.

In the two years since sea kayaking infected my soul I’ve experienced many types of water and weather conditions and my self-rescue experiences have ranged from failed attempts with a paddle float (thank you local fisherman for dragging my sorry self back to shore), to successful re-entry rolls in very large and windy tidal races.

So, do you need to learn how to self-rescue? Yes.

Once you have learned; what next? Practice…..Often.

Take yourself into the worst conditions you ever expect to find yourself in and practice. Obviously, you need to do this with an experienced paddler who is comfortable in those conditions…..But practice you must. After all, it’s your life we’re talking about.

Personally, I find there are two methods most effective:

The re-entry roll is the easiest way of re-entering your boat, especially in rough conditions. The disadvantage is the instability of then having to paddle a boat full of water to safety, in conditions that caused you to capsize in the first place.

    

    

    

The second method would be to first empty your boat of water and then shuffle your way up the stern, to slide back into the cockpit. This overcomes the ‘boat full of water’ problem but the balance this method requires is not easily achieved in a tidal race! This is more useful once you’ve done the re-entry roll and then escaped the race.

    

    

Other options are available but I’ve yet to master them. I’ll keep practicing…You do the same!

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