Coaching Dispatch

Next weekend is the Val Selesia festival and along with fellow Palm paddler Dave Carrol, I will be running the Palm Throwbag Olympics (Thursday and Friday evenings) so I figured it would be good time to share some of the top tips I regularly teach on white water safety and rescue courses ready for the competition.

1. Plan.  Using a throwbag is usually proactive, as in you have time to plan where and how you’ll be using it rather than reactive (jumping out your boat as someone swims passed?).  Use this time to think about where a paddler is likely to swim, and whether there is an eddy to swing them into. 

2. Throw.  Too much emphasis is put on the throw itself, as long as it reaches the swimmer, no problem!  Roughly I use underarm when I want accuracy, an overarm when I’m throwing down from a cliff or I want the swimmer to feel the rope hit them and a wide bowling action for distance, like putting a rope across a river.

3. Belay.  Key for me is managing the forces just as the rope goes tight.  The load is same for you on the bank as it is for the person in the water.  It doesn’t matter how strong you are, your grip on the rope or the ground if the person in the water is tired, they won’t be able to hold on.  You, as the rescuer, must anticipate the force and brake appropriately.  The easiest way of doing this to move downriver and away from the river, space you planned for in step 1.  It is possible to let rope out or use a body belay but again doesn’t matter how you brake someone in the water as long as you do, allowing you to rescue any sized person.  The bigger they are, the stronger the water, the more braking distance need.

Next Month’s Dispatch will look at tactics for bigger water paddling as many of us head away to France and Austria for some summer sun.

Chris Eastabrook offers year round safety and rescue courses and has Palm PFDs, throwbags and other goodies available to try out on the standard and advanced courses.  Click here for www.chriseastabrookcoaching.com.

The photos for this blog came from David Fairweather, check out www.davidfairweather.net for more photos and stories.  Thanks Dave, Thave.