How To Tow Another Kayak
Courtesy of Jakob Jelling.
Jakob Jelling is the founder of http://www.kayakhelp.com.
Please visit his complete kayaking guide for all skills and
ages.
While there are a lot of different techniques to get people back in their
kayaks should they capsize while they're out kayaking, these techniques
are not all foolproof. It is always possible that no matter what you try,
there is no way you can possibly get all of the water out of the kayak.
If this is the case, then you'll probably have to drain the kayak on the
beach, and then re-launch both kayaks.
Knowing how to tow another kayak is an important part of being safe on
the water. After all, if there is some reason why the other person cannot
paddle back to shore, then you are going to need to provide a tow. If
you ever find yourself in a situation where you cannot continue paddling,
then you should also make sure that you're prepared to accept a tow. There
are plenty of reasons why you might need to be towed, and you should not
feel embarrassed about any of them. Anybody can become tired or injured,
and you should always ask for help when it is needed, especially if you
are kayaking out at sea.
- The first thing that you should do before you tow another kayak is talk
to the person in the kayak.
- There are a lot of reasons why somebody might
have to stop paddling, and you should probably determine which one is
the problem now. Once you determine that, you'll be able to provide a
little more help than just a tow. For instance, if the person in the kayak
is dehydrated or hungry, then you can provide food or water. If they are
cold, then you may want to suggest that they put on more clothing.
- You should always make sure that the person you are towing has a whistle,
just in case something happens while you are towing their kayak. That
way, you'll be able to respond right away.
- There are several different towing options.
- First, if you only have one
person who is capable of towing the other kayak, then you can just use
one towline and tow the kayak by yourself.
- If there are other people to
help, then you can try either the V tow or an inline tow.
- The V tow is
probably the most effective method if there are two paddlers - essentially,
both kayaks are attached to the one being towed in a V-like formation.
- If there are several people who are capable of towing, you may want to
try an inline tow. What this means is that the kayaks are connected in
a straight line, and the first kayak is the only one that is not being
towed a little. This is helpful of most of the people in your group are
starting to feel a little bit tired.
- Other techniques that you can use while rescuing somebody are the stern
tow and the bow tow.
These different towing methods essentially involve
what parts of the kayak you will connect to when you decide to give somebody
a tow. It's important for you to learn several different towing methods
so that when you are actually in the situation where they are needed,
you'll be able to figure out which method works the best for you.
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