Pumps & Paddle floats
Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2015 6:01 pm
A short story, with a salutory lesson which may be of interest.............
While on a visit home to the ancient kingdom of Alba, I entered the Oban Sea Kayak race on Saturday, the biggest sea kayak race in the UK. The race distance is approx 20km around the lovely island of Kerrera. 60 competitors in a highly competitive field with a large amount of performance kayaks. Conditions were miserable, almost constant rain with a SW wind of F6, gusting to F8. The southern shore of Kerrera was bearing the full brunt of the weather, with waves and wind unhindered by anything in the Firth of Lorne......
Rounding the SW tip of Kerrera the sea was breaking heavily, resulting in a capsize and then roll. Immediately got slapped into place by another breaker, another capsize. Missed my roll and was swimming. Not an issue, having extensively practised my paddle float self rescue, I was soon back in the cockpit amid heavily breaking sea. Time to pump the boat out and get on with it, or so I thought. When first attempt at pumping out began, the pump handle snapped clean off, leaving me pretty much adrift and helpless. Another competitor paddled close by a short while later and kindly allowed me to use his pump, allowing me to empty the kayak and continue onwards completing the race.
The lesson? How many of you regularly check the integrity of your pump handles? Do you take it for granted that it'll work? There were no visible weaknesses in mine, yet the handle snapped with disconcerting ease. UV degradation no doubt. I will certainly be replacing my pump every 2 years from now on. I recommend you all do the same, and regularly practice solo paddle float rescues. Without mines on Saturday, I could have quite easily have been dumped unceremoniously onto rocks.
Cheers,
Chris
PS some of you may wonder why the race went ahead in those conditions? Quite simply, because we're sea kayakers and there was safety provision in place
While on a visit home to the ancient kingdom of Alba, I entered the Oban Sea Kayak race on Saturday, the biggest sea kayak race in the UK. The race distance is approx 20km around the lovely island of Kerrera. 60 competitors in a highly competitive field with a large amount of performance kayaks. Conditions were miserable, almost constant rain with a SW wind of F6, gusting to F8. The southern shore of Kerrera was bearing the full brunt of the weather, with waves and wind unhindered by anything in the Firth of Lorne......
Rounding the SW tip of Kerrera the sea was breaking heavily, resulting in a capsize and then roll. Immediately got slapped into place by another breaker, another capsize. Missed my roll and was swimming. Not an issue, having extensively practised my paddle float self rescue, I was soon back in the cockpit amid heavily breaking sea. Time to pump the boat out and get on with it, or so I thought. When first attempt at pumping out began, the pump handle snapped clean off, leaving me pretty much adrift and helpless. Another competitor paddled close by a short while later and kindly allowed me to use his pump, allowing me to empty the kayak and continue onwards completing the race.
The lesson? How many of you regularly check the integrity of your pump handles? Do you take it for granted that it'll work? There were no visible weaknesses in mine, yet the handle snapped with disconcerting ease. UV degradation no doubt. I will certainly be replacing my pump every 2 years from now on. I recommend you all do the same, and regularly practice solo paddle float rescues. Without mines on Saturday, I could have quite easily have been dumped unceremoniously onto rocks.
Cheers,
Chris
PS some of you may wonder why the race went ahead in those conditions? Quite simply, because we're sea kayakers and there was safety provision in place