No amount of education and experience can prevent all capsizing situations. Although tipping and swamping occurs most often near the shore during entry and exit, it is important to know how to recover your boat when in water deeper than you can touch. Today we will review the X rescue technique. Our next post will focus on the T rescue.
What is the X Rescue
So what is the X rescue? In short, it is when the rescue boat and the capsized boat come together to make an X as the capsized boat is pulled onto the rescue boat. This technique is one of the easiest apart from simply swimming to shore. It is used mostly for any Sit In kayak that doesn’t have a bulkhead. For kayaks with a bulkhead, the T rescue will work, but you could still choose to use this method.
How to X Rescue
To perform the X rescue, the rescuer and the capsized paddler need to work together to bring the bow of the flipped boat to the side of the upright boat. The paddler needs to swim to the stern of his/her boat. The rescuer will lift the bow as the swimmer pushes the stern down. As the bow breaks the water, the capsized boat is pulled and pushed onto the deck of the rescue boat making an X with the two boats. Now the rescuer can drain the water caught in the cockpit. Just make sure that the water that drains from the cockpit doesn’t end up inside the rescue boat.
Re-Entry
Once the water is drained, the rescuer flips the capsized boat upright and brings it along side of his/her boat so that they are bow to stern. Now the swimmer needs to re-enter his/her kayak and there are many ways this can be done. Personal preference, paddler size/strength, experience and conditions all play a role in the method used to re-enter. We will review several methods for re-entering a kayak in a a future post. For now, have fun, be safe, and we will see you on the water.