-
Happy Marine Mammal Rescue Day! 🐳🐬🦭🦦
"Paddle out of Peril" video with Omer Stringer
- Thread starter Glenn MacGrady
- Start date
@Ralph has found the entire video. Thanks.
Omer Stringer says at 10:20 of the video that "even though I weigh but 130 pounds, any canoe up to 90 pounds is very easily rolled onto my shoulders" for portaging. Take that, you wimpy modern Americans!
Omer Stringer says at 10:20 of the video that "even though I weigh but 130 pounds, any canoe up to 90 pounds is very easily rolled onto my shoulders" for portaging. Take that, you wimpy modern Americans!
At 19:20 of the video, Stringer demonstrates a rescue technique for an injured/unconscious swimmer that I've never seen or thought of. He deliberately swamps his own canoe, paddling one-armed, to float the injured swimmer into it. Of course, he then has to paddle the swamped canoe to shore somehow.
Glenn, not that I'm a good searcher but I did find the full length version at:
It's interesting that I use the same canoe over canoe technique that he used. I found that many people have trouble getting back into a canoe by themselves so I do what Omer did, I get the swamped canoe part way over my canoe then I lean over the upside down swamped canoe and help the person into the boat. I find it to be extremely stable and it really allows me to help heavier and/or less fit people get into the canoe. I believe that my way is not the way that is currently being taught but I find it more effective than other methods I have tried.
It's interesting that I use the same canoe over canoe technique that he used. I found that many people have trouble getting back into a canoe by themselves so I do what Omer did, I get the swamped canoe part way over my canoe then I lean over the upside down swamped canoe and help the person into the boat. I find it to be extremely stable and it really allows me to help heavier and/or less fit people get into the canoe. I believe that my way is not the way that is currently being taught but I find it more effective than other methods I have tried.
Enjoyable video, worth watching the full length version, though I expect folks on this forum would find the info remedial. Around minute 12, there's fantastic footage of a canoe recirculating at a low-head dam - great example for teaching others about this danger.
Also interesting to note that both this video and a Bill Mason video feature a wood/canvas canoe getting destroyed in rapids. A reflection of the ubiquity of w/c canoes at the time of filming? Or just a reflection of ample filming budgets? I can't imagine anyone doing such these days. Ironically, both videos also feature composite or aluminum canoes....but a w/c smashes up against rocks a lot better on film.
Regarding swamping a canoe to rescue someone, I imagine the work-ability of that depends on your canoe's neutral buoyancy to a certain degree. I've discovered that my Wenonah Heron sits with much of the gunnels around the center underwater when swamped - only the stems stick out above the surface, and that's completely empty. With a couple people inside, I don't know that it's paddle-able at all. Maybe enough of a platform to stave off drowning and hope for a rescue, but I bet w/c canoes had a lot more buoyancy? Either way, something worth trying out and practicing!
Also interesting to note that both this video and a Bill Mason video feature a wood/canvas canoe getting destroyed in rapids. A reflection of the ubiquity of w/c canoes at the time of filming? Or just a reflection of ample filming budgets? I can't imagine anyone doing such these days. Ironically, both videos also feature composite or aluminum canoes....but a w/c smashes up against rocks a lot better on film.
Regarding swamping a canoe to rescue someone, I imagine the work-ability of that depends on your canoe's neutral buoyancy to a certain degree. I've discovered that my Wenonah Heron sits with much of the gunnels around the center underwater when swamped - only the stems stick out above the surface, and that's completely empty. With a couple people inside, I don't know that it's paddle-able at all. Maybe enough of a platform to stave off drowning and hope for a rescue, but I bet w/c canoes had a lot more buoyancy? Either way, something worth trying out and practicing!
Similar threads
