Chalk Talk: Rough Water

Join NSPN at a chalk talk 11/22 (Sunday) at a location TBA from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm as we discuss how to plan for and execute a roughwater trip, including rescues. We'll be drawing heavily on the lessons NSPN paddlers have learned from the past two on-water roughwater worksops.

The class will be fast-paced, varied, and informative, and will include group work, decision-making exercises, and the sharing of the knowledge and experiences of paddlers who have hit the rough water hard recently and been hit equally hard by it in return.

Topics to be covered include:

1. The differing challenges posed by wind-driven wave and offshore swell, and why one type of rough water can be more challenging to deal with than the other.

2. The most effective rescues to use and which to avoid in roughwater and higher winds (believe me, we have many ideas on this now, given what went down after two capsizes last weekend that put SIX paddlers on the rocks in less than ten minutes).

3. The importance of setting clear and specific rescue protocols with your group before leaving the put-in.

4. How to assure the safety of a group while a rescue is in process

5. How to execute two-rescuer rescues (i.e., victim, primary rescuer, and secondary rescuer using an upwind rope); how to execute three-rescuer rescues (i.e., victim, primary rescuer, secondary rescuer, and third rescuer, or "bulldog")

6. How to read coastlines "live", and charts beforehand, to anticipate where roughwater will occur relative to the current marine forecast.

7. How to make put-in and paddling direction decisions

8. How to keep warm while in the boat and while on breaks.

9. Radio shorthand to use to make rough water communications faster and clearer.

We'll also hear from several paddlers who capsized hard these past two weekends...