Rigging Your Paddlefloat

April-May 2003

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.
To download a pdf copy of the magazine click here: > DOWNLOAD

Photos by Vadim Kin

Vadim Kin suffered a spinal cord injury in his native Russia at age 13 that left him paralyzed from the chest down. When he got back into kayaking as an adult, he was concerned about how to self-rescue when two-thirds of his body is 'dead weight', as he puts it. Knowing that a capsized paddler doesn't have long in cold sea water, he installed a modified paddle float rigging - a variation on one of Lee Moyer's inventions - with cleats and a line on his back deck. Vadim reports that the rigging passed its test with flying colors.

PADDLE FLOAT RESCUE RIGGING


(1) Put your paddle on the deck behind your cockpit.



(2) Loop the line over your paddle and around one cleat.



(3) Then around the other cleat.



(4) Then snug the line into the jam cleat.



(5) With the paddle firmly snugged to your deck, you can now pull yourself into the kayak.

Traditionally, a paddlefloat self-rescue entails sticking the paddle blade under the decklines behind your cockpit. Vadim's scheme is an alternative that's worth considering, but it does take a little bit more time, and time is of the essence when you're immersed.