Level 2 Assessment Rescues

[christophermarriott]

I have my level 2 assessment tomorrow and have just finished checking over everything ready for the morning. I was reading the rescue scenarios that I could be assessed on and there are 2 that I would like people opinions on.

"Rescue an unconscious paddler from their boat"

"Rescue a conscious entrapped paddler from their boat"

What methods of rescue would you use for both of these?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Lancs_lad]

"Rescue an unconscious paddler from their boat"

In the enviroment the Level 2 is aimed at, you will be on the water with them and it will not be flowing. So just paddle over and pull the boat upright with them in it.

[Mont]

"Rescue an unconscious paddler from their boat"

In old money, this would be a kayak to kayak (aka hand of god) rescue. Paddle over, push the section of boat nearest to you into the water, with the other arm reach over and find the cockpit rim, and pull the boat/paddler upright.

"Rescue a conscious entrapped paddler from their boat"

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

An ambiguous description - but I'd say Eskimo rescue?! That's assuming they are actually upside down! Otherwise, just turn the boat on its side and they will fall out actively if they are conscious .....

[trickywhu]

on my assessment did one rescue where the assessor gave us a scenario e.g. someone your coaching who is diabetic suddenly starts slumping, what do you do?.

doubt will be much harder than that

[twopigs]

"Rescue an unconscious paddler from their boat"

In old money, this would be a kayak to kayak (aka hand of god) rescue. Paddle over, push the section of boat nearest to you into the water, with the other arm reach over and find the cockpit rim, and pull the boat/paddler upright.

In new money you might bail yourself and pull their spraydeck to ensure you get a first time rescue - "Hand of God" does not always go smoothly.

[slaughter950]

Good luck for today mate!
Let us know how you get on.

[stone056]

Got mine Saturday, thanks for the info too guys!

[gonzo]

"Rescue an unconscious paddler from their boat"

In the enviroment the Level 2 is aimed at, you will be on the water with them and it will not be flowing. So just paddle over and pull the boat upright with them in it.

Just to add to the discussion from when I run L2 assessments...

The coach could be operating from the bank while the group would be on the water. I would expect them to have procedures in place for a on-water rescue to take place.

All the rescues required should have been covered in the FSRT course at this level.

[TheKrikkitWars]

"Rescue an unconscious paddler from their boat"

Hand of god rescue, or failing that, swim and pull their deck then pull them forwards and out; immediately get them floating on their back.

"Rescue a conscious entrapped paddler from their boat"

Bring their head above water (could involve a t-rescue if they're co-operative/not paniced), then once they're breathing and calm, ask them what's holding them in and act appropriately.

[Adrian Cooper]

In new money you might bail yourself and pull their spraydeck to ensure you get a first time rescue - "Hand of God" does not always go smoothly.

Agree. The hand of god is something of a misnomer since, if the victim is unconscious, their hands will not be at the surface. What you are doing, as described above, is rolling the boat over and as Paul suggests, with modern river runners with deep sides, it can be difficult to reach the top endge of the boat suffient to haul it up. The other thing to remember is that if the paddler really is unconscious he is likely to fall straight back it unless you hold him up.

[robp]

In new money you might bail yourself and pull their spraydeck to ensure you get a first time rescue - "Hand of God" does not always go smoothly.

Is this something where the wisdom has changed lately?

I only ask because I have recently completed an FSRT & L1 we were taught hand of god as a first response to an apparently unconscious and upside down paddler *or* bail and pull the casualty's deck with the rider that if you try the first and don't manage a quick and effective first time rescue in seconds then that is the time to immediately bail and get them out from underneath.

Subsequently I was helping out at a pool session with a couple of way more experienced and knowledgeable coaches giving pool lifeguards a taste of swimmer to kayak rescues - my role was mostly a fitting one as the casualty! A comment was made along the lines of "we don't try and extract the casualty from underneath the boat" and we proceeded to have them practice swimming to the casualty and rolling them up.

I didn't get chance to ask the more knowledgeable folks about this afterwards and certainly didn't want to confuse the lifeguards by raising it at the time, but my first instinct if I was in the water to start with, particularly in a pool environment, would be to pop their deck and pull them out backwards rather than waste time attempting and possibly failing to roll the boat up and then have to deal with a floppy casualty in a boat anyway. Is this wrong?

Thinking about it as I type, I guess it depends on the scenario. I was thinking casualty but if they are simply upside down and panicking then getting them upright again by rolling the boat is much safer for the rescuer than getting close enough to try and pull them out, and an upside down panicking paddler is 1000 times more probable scenario in a pool session than an unconscious casualty. Looks like I answered my own question.