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........http://www.weather.com/weather/today/USME0480 How does Tuesday sound for this trip? Found this on the web site under text for Sunday. Windy with a few showers in the morning then partly cloudy in the afternoon. High near 50F. Winds WNW at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 30%. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph. I'm OK changing to another day during the week. Tuesday not likely for me though. I remember last spring around Gerrish with very high gusts. Is it the area? Will check later tonight for an update. Bob

Probably will also be going. Bob

Hi Gene, I plan on attending. Will check later for updates. Bob

I plan to attend. Bob

Doug, Great pictures. I like the ones of the flooded grasses against the background, eg #24, 37, 38, 41. Scot, Your #27 is a nice shot of birds and shadows. Thanks. Bob

If the rocks were closer or the drift more threatening, it may have been appropriate to stick you in the (partially?) swamped boat and then due a push style of contact tow to move further from any danger. In this method, you would be stabilizing yourself by holding onto the rescuer's boat while the rescuer paddled to a safer location. There you could either pump or get out of the boat and dump. Ty, It was a judgement call. I've had some recent experience in contact tows of flooded boats in surf, and it can be difficult. Nevertheless, I agree that was a reasonable option. When we started the drain and rescue, the rocks seemed far enough away. We gradually became alarmingly close to the rocks as Ernie was squared away in the kayak, and we were waiting for the paddle. I was keeping an eye on our drift, and would have paddled us out (easier with dry boats and Ernie holding on from his cockpit). Luckily, the cavalry arrived in the form of Leon with Ernie's paddle. All of us then easily paddled from that spot into open water. Bob

........Bob emptied my Vaag twice yesterday, too, which surprised me as it's rear cockpit's bulkhead wall is "ramped" forward, protruding into the cockpit to allow really quick drainage. OTOH the Vaag is REALLY tippy when partially filled, such as during a wet surf-launch where a re-capsize is almost inevitable. Given that the water was still c. 60F it was easy to be a patient rescue-e rather than face the work of pumping out. As it was we were quite near large rocks (see Leon's comments on the recent Lane's Cove trip report), but I think I preferred having a DRY skirted boat near rocks than a half-filled one, trying to pump away as I got pushed further towards those same rocks. In this particular case the time required to double-dump during the T was a LOT less than pumping out the cockpit would've been, and of course with much less risk of re-capsize. Ern, I had forgotten some of this. We were getting close to the same nasty rock conditions that Leon later entered to save your map (talk about 'above and beyond'!). Pumping out would have been unwise there. I was on the verge of giving you the spare paddle from my deck, or preferably contact towing out of there, when Leon arrived with your paddle just in time. Bob

Leon, Thanks for this web site. Under the heel-hook rescue, the animation shows the rescuee rotating to face the rescuer's boat. The rescuee's right hand is supported by the rescuer's boat to complete the twist. Bob

Maybe we should post re heel-hook reentry continuous spiral vs the more conventional "facing" twist on a separate thread? This came up yesterday in the trip post-mortem (having a lot of them these days!). I always assumed that after rolling onto the back of the boat in the heel-hook rescue, the rescuee should twist into his/her boat facing the rescuer. It has the advantage of allowing the rescuee to brace against the rescuer's deck if necessary. Ernie noted however that the center of mass is probably closer to the edge of the 'raft' with that maneuver, and it may be better to have the rescuee twist away from the rescuer, face pointing outward from the center of the raft. That also has the advantage of simply continuing the roll-twist from the original heal-hook so may be faster. On the other hand, 'slow' can be a good thing especially since feet and legs have to get positioned into the boat. Havent yet looked it up in the texts for the official answer, but I think I read and heard that the twist should be towards the rescuer. Bob

[Oh, that reminds me; when we turned into Ipswich Bay there was a guy paddling a Banks Dory out about 200 yards farther from shore than us. It was an amazing sight. He was bouncing around like on some carnival ride. I was actually thinking of paddling out to speak with him, but decided that the three of us should stay together (didn’t want to break any CAM rules either). Seeing that Dory in the waves made me appreciate the seaworthiness of a kayak! Also, although it was too far to tell for sure, I don't think the guy had on a pfd. Great paddle - good distances, some conditions, brisk air, nice views around the Annisquam and Gloucester harbor, and best of all, very little boat traffic. Bob

Rob, I want to second everything that Ed wrote. Because of you and Rick, Chebacco sessions have been superb. It is not only assisted and self rescues, but also demonstrations and tutorials on paddle finesse and boat control, rolling and bracing, equipment, discussions on handling conditions and surf, opportunities to try out other boats....the list goes on.....These sessions really elevate the skill level of participants, and they have been fun! Thanks again to you and Rick. Looking forward to the NSPN pool sessions. Bob

See you there. Bob

Ern, Interested in joining tomorrow. Bob

I would also be in for next weekend. Bob

Leon, Rene's 'algorithm' would be effective but, as you point out, troublesome in the long-run. As to which boat? I agree with Tyson, without a doubt! Bob

We did not make a combat roll a requirement for the trip. I dont think it was necessary. The IOS paddlers were all experienced (at least L3) with good boat control, bracing and rescue skills. The failures were of pod communication and organization which are still being sorted out. In my opinion those failures are the kind that endanger people paddling in groups - not individual rolling ability. Also, as mentioned above, is there such a thing as a bombproof roll? Bob

Hi Alec,

I've fired a roll or two in anger - but that does not mean it cannot fail. Are you saying that one should not consider backups? Bob

Jeff, The following was from the dozens of emails we exchanged after the trip. During the return, I tried not to think about self rescue options if my roll failed...Cowboy - for me, forget about it, no matter how many times I manage it at Chebacco lake. Paddle float-T - absurd in those conditions. Re-enter and roll - sure, but how to pump the water out and brace? Re-enter and roll with the paddle float - well maybe, but the float might interfere with effective bracing rather than help while pumping. My experience in practice is that if I get tossed again, that paddle float really makes it hard to move the paddle around from under the boat. The self rescue options are dwindling fast. Re-enter and roll, pump a little, and then try to progress with a spray skirt over the water filled kayak? Maybe the answer are foot pumps? Luckily we were at least paired-up, so another boat was around. Bob

I'm hoping to hear from Shari and Bob and Leon more about that splendid assisted rescue. I have questions about the second, unintended, pod separation (questions, not criticism), and I think there were some entanglement lessons we could learn from. That's the short list from my point of view. There were plenty of things I did wrong that I'm willing to share. Lisa, I'm involved in all the issues in this paragraph. I think we were just beginning to realize that things looked bad, and I remember us trying to organize a formation with me or Leon as sweep, you or Bev (GPS monitors) as points, and Gene, Shari, and Ernie was the middle section. Leon was already in the sweep position and so I moved up and remember telling Ernie to stay with Shari. She was in a new boat which is never easy. I was maybe 50-100 feet behind them, thinking to return to a back position, when I saw Shari bobble on a high wave. I sensed she was going over before she actually did, and started out after her. Then someone yelled that she was in the water, maybe it was me? Anyway, as per Rick C Chebacco lake instructions, I aimed for the bow of her kayak and reached it before Leon. She was at the back of the kayak, and I asked her if she was OK. Ernie was also close by, and since Shari did not have a helmet (none of us did), I had a real concern that she could get hit with his kayak. I was about to ask her assistance in turning her kayak over, when I realized that she was entangled on the end of the kayak. Just as I was about to walk-paddle my kayak around to the back in order to help disentangle her - and present another dangerous bow in the vicinity of her head - she managed to get free. That would have been tricky anyway since her boat was still upside down and I couldnt right it with her attached. Also, I would lose my very stable T and have kayaks in parallel while I went around to the back. Every distraction increased the probability of getting knocked over myself. I may have asked Ernie to help her at this point. It turns out that her spray skirt loop had entangled on the back toggle of her boat. Anyway she was doing OK and I flipped the boat with the two-hand twist; again as I had seen done by Rick. One major concern was paddle management, which has always bothered me in T-rescues. I hate to have my paddle hanging by a deck line off the bow of the kayak. I recently bought a contact tow, with a velcro strap for the express purpose of wrapping both the rescuer's and swimmer's paddles during a rescue. I've even practiced with it in surf rescues with Blaine Bjornstad. The strap was sitting right in front of me, but for some reason I was reluctant to take the time, or more likely just uneasy about not having my paddle free in those conditions. We could have all been tossed at any time, and I just couldn't tie up my paddle. I've thought a lot about not using that strap. Instead I put both Shari's and my paddles under my outside arm and proceeded. She was in a good position where I could see her, and probably hanging onto my boat, as I lifted her kayak across mine and drained it. However, just as I was rotating it back to set up the reentry, a wave hit her kayak and filled it with water again. The very same thing happened to me during one of the practice sessions with Blaine (that I mentioned above) in the surf off Lynch park in Beverly. It is not a very comfortable event because the benefit of the T-rescue, namely the very stable T, is now working against you as a that lever takes the force of the wave. Also, if you lose the grip, the boat could fly into your swimmer. I think the solution is to watch carefully for waves and time the flip over appropriately, but in these conditions that was not easy. In this case I held on and simply repeated the drain from scratch. I put the kayak in the appropriate front-to-back orientation quickly to avoid having that sharp bow free and pointing at me. I definitely committed to her kayak and was telling Shari to put her outside leg over for the roll up onto the back, when Leon came up. I was really grateful he was there and felt that we were better off rafted up. Besides having a more stable platform, I did not really have a good grip on our paddles under my arm, and as I committed to secure Shari's kayak I felt them slip a little. I may have even mentioned that to him. Shari got back in and settled quickly; and we even took a little time to catch our breath before separating. I'll post my observations on the second pod separation, entanglement and beach landing in separate postings. I would really be interested in people's opinion of how the rescue could have been performed better. I'm hugely relieved that we all got home safe, and believe that it is due to all the participants' basic paddling skills and expertise - which certainly for me is due to NSPN. I think mistakes were made that we are all considering in great detail, but this was not a panicked race for the shoreline. We were looking out for each other. Bob

Hi Warren, Welcome to NSPN. In terms of rapidly increasing one's competence in sea kayaking, I dont think you could pick a better organization to join. In the summer, try to make the after-work skills sessions at Chebacco on Thurs, Seabrook on Tues, Walden pond on Weds, and in recent years sessions in Mystic Lake, Lake Gardner, and Forest River/Willows. In the winter, there are pool sessions. There are individuals at these sessions that are very experienced kayakers, and extremely giving of their time to help people develop skills. All these sessions are posted on the web site. This year we had three outstanding CAM sessions - one indoors and two on the water, in which trip planning and execution, navigation, and ocean rescues were discussed and practiced. I think CAM sessions will be repeated next spring. A lot of advice for people new to kayaking is also provided during the well-attended Solstice paddle. Thank you for the information for the IOS event team on how to effectively assess what happened, and then formulate a constructive response that other NSPN members can gain from. Many of your suggestions are actually being implemented around people's busy schedules. Bob

Were they really frequently up to 6' -- double overhead? Yes. Bob

Leslie, I'm out. This looks like a great trip, but something came up at work......Have fun everyone! Bob

Leslie, Would like to join. If too many show up, I'll head back to the Willows! Thanks. Bob