I was so tired I didn't set my alarm after work, figuring I'd sleep until I woke up and be in a good frame for starting my holiday. My wife would be home anyway so the fact I forgot that George was coming over from twelve onwards shouldn't have been an issue and I usually wake by eleven at the latest anyway. I woke at one to see some missed messages and didn't see him out there when I looked...so he stayed another half an hour before I had another check. Ooops, sorry!
I invited him in, we drank coffee then went down to the beach so he could try his new paddle and do some anchor and self-rescue practice about tree hundred yards off in his new Ultra that he'd picked up from Garry.
We started off with me showing him how I drop and haul anchor before he did the same, his new, longer anchor warp proving to be no trouble. Easy as! Next up was self-rescue. I'd gone out in wetsuit and tentatively slipped into the water, still a bit cold for me to swim to be honest. I talked it through and then climbed aboard. George was next, dropped into the water and had a go himself with no problem. And again. And again. I got him leaning it over as far as he could until it went, clambering up front, showed an assisted rescue and so on before attaching his kayak to mine as a tow and talking him through approaching a person in the water and getting them calmly wrapped around the bow before I paddled him in for a while before another self-rescue. By this time he was getting more tired and more cold which was a good emulation of reality. One final thing...we dropped the anchor and I pulled the kayak, paddling hard, to make his self-rescue even more difficult. Flying colours!
As we paddled in I heard a shout and ended up carrying my wife on the bow and my daughter in the tankwell as they'd got home and headed straight to the beach, swimming out to join us. A most enjoyable and productive session! Wish my camera had lasted more than one shot though.
No comments:
Post a Comment