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Solo Canoe self rescue

I ran across this looking for something else. Looks like too much gear for my tastes but it seems to work in flat water with no wind.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHNu4q1Bsy4
Dave


two issues. Its not a solo canoe. The self rescue takes way too long. He could have heel hooked himself in the boat in two seconds. Basically lay on your back next to the boat and roll in. IMO the gear on the video is a waste in that context.

You can if you can empty your boat mostly use a float bag on the end of the paddle. The issue is securing it to the thwart if its a single blade. If its a double no securing is necessary. You need paddle. float bag and 12-14 feet of rope.. That too is fiddly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He1dGhhaxok

Spry and quick people can get back in a mostly dry boat by heel hook and rolling in quick.
 
Well, that looks like a fun thing for a swimming pool. Kinda reminds me of these new plastic gas containers; all kinds of safety features but nearly impossible to get the gas into the lawn mower.

For me, the determining factor is how darn cold the water around here is and how I'd better get out of it pretty quickly.

Best Wishes, Rob
 
Too much junk in the canoe. Just grab the far gunnel pull yourself in and bail. Safer to do all the bailing from inside the canoe, it will float even full of water, no need for all the equipment and ropes to get tangled in.
 
The heel hook technique is harder than it looks. It takes practice and strong core muscles. Another approach is to make a little rope ladder. Check out this device:
http://sundownideas.com/

It would be easy enough to make such a thing out of rope. I haven't tried it, though, so I can't vouch for its ease of use.

YC, what would you call a tandem boat paddled by one person?
 
The heel hook takes no strength and can be done the first time by almost all paddlers if they remember NOT TO PICK THEIR HEAD UP. I teach it to most all my students. It was designed for those who have no core strength. My neighbors..kayakers in their seventies love it so much they self dump and use it daily to swim anywhere they want in conjunction with their paddle.

A tandem boat is a tandem boat. The getting into a 36 inch wide boat is quite different than the getting into a 24 inch wide boat. I use heel hook to solo enter my RapidFire with it partly filled.

The stirrup has been widely used for 20 years at least but it takes time to set up.. And its difficult to get the single blade attached securely for a solo self rescue..
 
OK, the video showed a person entering a tandem canoe by himself rather than a solo canoe re-entry. Now I get it.

YC, I couldn't find anything on the Web showing a person using the heel hook method to get back into a canoe, although there are several kayak videos and descriptions. Could you please point us to something that would be helpful for a solitary canoeist not using a double blade?
 
Sure stay within swimming distance to shore or heel hook yourself back into the mostly swamped boat.. The trouble with heel hook is that it in a narrow empty solo riding high you wind up reswamping it especially if the jewels get hung up on the gunwale ( yes read into that..that's as far as I am going) and you pause. Its best taught in person.

Some guys can cowboy scramble just like in kayaks.. Again some peril there.. Some guys can just literally pogo themselves into a itty bitty FlashFire..there is a video of Greg Spencer doing the same somewhere.

Heel hook was, like the stirrup method) adapted from kayaking . Stirrup can be done with a second boat pushing down the far gunwale.. It is a little tricky. The stirrup has to be the right length and you have to push straight down. Horseback riding experience may help.

In canoe foot goes under the thwart rather than the coaming as canoes lack the latter. Outside works best for me. Dignity does not matter.
 
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