Kayak Star-1 Course Day 2

We showed up at the PA Water Ventures for Day 2 of our Kayak course. First thing we learnt was how to rescue a capsized kayak. To do that, we teamed up in 3s and 4s and took turns to be the victim, lead rescuer, and assistant rescuer. V would capsize, swim to the bow of his kayak, raise the paddle and shout for help. LR would paddle over, check if V was ok, take V'2 paddle, and get V to hold on to LR's bow while LR holds V's kayak. AR then came over and his job is to raft both kayaks together and stabilize them. LR should position V's overturned kayak perpendicular to his own boat, and lift it over the LR and AR's decks. Then both rescuers had to see-saw V's kayak to drain the water from the cockpit. Finally, flip the overturned kayak upright and slide it into the waters, bow and stern in opposite direction to the rescuers' boats. Lastly, V had to climb and get himself back into his rescued kayak.

J, A and I formed a group. J capsized first, but we soon drifted near the shore that he could stand up! Haha. So he swam and towed all of further out to deeper waters. The first rescue attempt was a bit klutzy as we tried to remember the steps. By the time we did the drill 3 times, it was second nature. Quite fun actually to be the victim and watch the 2 rescuers trying to coordinate.

In the afternoon, we paddled across to deeper waters at the Tg Rhu condominiums and practised the rescue drill again. This time there was no way for the victims to stand on the sea bed and pretend to struggle. We happily posed and snapped many pictures during the exercise, all thanks to KC's waterproof camera.

After we were done, we rowed out towards Sheares Bridge and back. On the way back we did a mass capsize drill, where all 23 of us flipped, and we had to try and get everyone upright again. It was chaos and the trick was to drain 2 kayaks and get them upright for the rowers to climb onboard and we could then proceed with rescue drill as usual. The last 'game scenario' we had was to lose 10 paddles, and figure a way to get everyone back to shore somehow by tagging on to another kayak.

The day ended soon enough. After washing up, we were all presented with our certs. Armed with the Star-1 cert, we would be able to rent equipment from PA and also take part in adventure races that required the certification.

We-had-fun-photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/neuvocielomaniac/Kayak1StarCertificationCourse02#