Using Safety Gear to Self-Rescue in my Oru Kayak
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- Опубликовано: 30 авг 2023
- A year ago I attempted to self-rescue in my Oru Kayak Inlet, but I didn’t have all the safety gear I needed. I decided to try it again, this time with all the gear. Check out the first video below, and links to all the safety gear I used below (I didn’t show a bilge sponge in the video, but this is good to have for any small amounts of water the pump can’t get).
Also note- it took me almost an hour to get back in my kayak, I cut this video way down, but just note it was not a quick process. Which is why it is important to practice before it happens for real.
First Video: Practice Capsize Recovery in My Oru Kayak: • Practicing Self-Rescue...
🚣♀️ Kayak Safety Gear (affiliate links)
▶︎ Oru Float Bags (set of 2): bit.ly/3Dp5qP0
▶︎ PowerPump for Float Bags: bit.ly/3CAe9xF
▶︎ NRS Foam Paddle Float: bit.ly/3GPq77
▶︎ Sea to Summit Paddle Keeper: bit.ly/3YKhMdM
▶︎ NRS Kayak Bilge Pump: bit.ly/3XiNZHy
▶︎ Skwoosh Bilge Sponge: amzn.to/3bSGeFD
▶︎ NRS Odyssey Lifejacket: amzn.to/3c97AYo
▶︎ Cup with handle / Pitcher
▶︎ CaliCase Universal Waterproof Floating Case: amzn.to/3MKVQbE
▶︎ Oru Inlet: bit.ly/3Qfwa7L
▶︎ Oru Gel seat: bit.ly/3TsnfSX
▶︎ Aqua Bound Bent Shaft Paddle (225cm): amzn.to/3PQ48jE
🛶 Full kayaking gear list on my website: bit.ly/skgearweb
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Hi, I’m Steph! A DIYer, author, and podcast host. I live in Tallahassee, FL with my adopted greyhound, Tosh. I 🧡 Kayaking.
I make DIY videos @MotherDaughterProjectsDIY
Check out my memoir, Discovering My Scars by Stephanie Kostopoulos: amzn.to/2O4U5dh
I co-host the Discovering Our Scars Podcast, where we have honest conversations about things that make us different. Listen on all podcast platforms: bio.link/dospod
As someone who makes long multiday trips, has had semi-professional instruction, and stresses practice with my club mates; here are my two cents*
Paddle float; yes! If you have a paddle float, get it out first. The additional flotation will help quite a lot. It's not essential safety equipment but it's such a great extra piece of kit that I'd recommend it to anyone.
Speaking of flotation, your PFD (essential safety equipment) appears to be slightly ill fitted and rises up while you're in the water. I suggest you fiddle with the straps to improve the fit.
In the Oru Kayak the benefit of flotation bags are much less obvious in your rescue attempts. The kayak (unloaded) will essentially float just by the water surface on it's own because the hollow plastic is lighter than water. Many hard shell kayaks don't have this advantage and will basically sink in seconds once a critical volume of water enters the cockpit. Kayak without bulkheads? Flotation bags! (so essential safety equipment for any kayak without bulkheads)
For large amounts of water it's indeed easier to use a cup (or 'bailer' to use it's proper term) rather than a bilge pump and are well worth considering the investment, but I wouldn't consider them essential safety equipment.
There's a reason that the bilge pump was hard to use; you're supposed to use them after you're back in the cockpit, as you found out a bailer is much easier before that. But what you're really supposed to do is empty the kayak without equipment.
Well, I say "without equipment" but the paddle float will help you as well as the flotation bags, this is the other part where they shine. Get to the tip of the bow, turn the kayak upside down, use your legs and whatever floats your -boa- you to get as high out of the water as possible, and lift the bow up. With the added flotation of the stern from the bag it should be possible to lift a significant portion of the kayak out of the water allowing it to drain. Then you turn it around before letting it back on the water and begin your re-entry with your paddle float. After getting back in you get the water out with the bilge pump.
I am personally a huge fan of the paddle leash but that's probably because I don't kayak in wild water. If you do, consider one like the one being used in the video that uses Velcro or in some other way can 'fail' so it won't end up dragging you or the kayak underwater because the paddle got stuck somewhere.
My last three thoughts; when trying to re-enter a kayak allow your legs to float all the way to the surface behind you. This way you can swim forward and only need to push your body up for a small amount and that makes it easier to get your torso over the cockpit (which is the self-rescue you're doing). This makes it so much easier to clear the edge of the cockpit especially with a PFD on.
Second; Practice other self-rescue techniques like the 'heel hook' (again float flat but on your back and parallel with the boat, and swing your 'outer' leg into the cockpit, then use the extra leverage to roll into the cockpit) or the 'cowboy scramble' (admittedly I haven't seen this one tried with an Oru, but with the flotation bags should be doable; push the stern down from directly behind the kayak into the water and get yourself as far up on the back deck, again being flat on the water will help, and while staying as flat as you can move yourself towards the cockpit).
Lastly; Don't assume that whatever flips you doesn't flip your paddling partner. If you don't assume that and it doesn't happen; great. If it does happen while you always assumed it wouldn't; oh no!
* I was going to adjust this for inflation, but a quick online search shows the saying is possibly from a 16th century (1500-1599) UK saying, which would raise it to nearly 2000 GBP (guess that's 500+ years of inflation for ya) and the joke would've been lost on everyone...
Thanks for taking the time to provide this great advice. I am a very beginner kayaker and it's great to have this information early on to be well prepared for the inevitable unexpected flip.
Can't get more real life than this.
Stay safe and make sure the pups are healthy and happy 😁😁😁😁.
Suggest kyaking close to shore with that kyak. I prefer the hard case kyaks for river kyaking
Kudos to you for practicing self rescue in the Oru Inlet. I have a Bay ST and a Coast XT. Here are some tips I'd like to suggest:
1) flip the kayak back upright immediately after capsize so it has less water in it 2) tighten up the straps on your PFD so it will not come up around your ears/head. It should be snug around the bottom and the shoulder straps should not have any room. 3) float bags help disperse the amount of water in the kayak and do not keep the kayak afloat. 4) have a tow rope in your safety kit. 5) try doing a "heel hook" rescue with your paddle float. 6) have a marine radio or cellphone in a waterproof case with a floaty attached to it. 7) have a floaty attached to your camera.
Oru has a great video on how to climb up the back of the kayak and scoot back into the cockpit
I tried that in my first video and it didn't work for me. Oru showed that on their closed cockpit kayak, so it didn't seem to translate to the open cockpit that I have.
My daughter and I have yet to practice a capsize situation. You may have inspired us enough to do it. There are so many times when paddling in a river where there isn't any available shoreline that is useable for a re-launch. And if you physically can't do it, that's a good thing to know so you don't wear yourself out trying to do the impossible.
Thanks!
Thank you!
Well, that was interesting. I have all the safety gear but haven't practiced with the Inlet. I have used them with a sea kayak and think the hard sides and flotation built in makes it much easier. Guess I better start practicing with my Inlet. Dressing for the water temperature is probably a good idea for us northern paddlers too. Hope you are okay after the hurricane down there.
That was helpful to watch. Thanks for showing us. I’ve wondered how stable that Oru is and how easy it is to dump over/fall out. I’m in south fl east coast (Martin co) and would like to use the Oru on the intracoastal waterway when it’s calm.
i think the float bags mainly help for if your kayak is filled with water.. that it still floats (when your not on it)
I don't know if its possible on the Oru, but have you tried the "climb the ladder" technique?
That's the only method that works for a big guy like me (6'2"/200lbs) without recapsizing my kayak. Any side entry just drops the gunwales too low because of my weight/leverage and refills the boat. I think it's also less exhausting because the kayak takes a lot of your weight.
Hi Steph, wouldn't the Kayak have sunk without the float bags when it got full of water the first time you tried to get back in? I always thought that's what the bags are for. Stay safe and happy Kayaking 🙂
No. Oru kayaks are made of positively buoyant material. They won't sink. Fully-flooded, they will float just at or below the surface.
Float bags are generally not for keeping your boat from sinking. They're for displacing water and increasing the hull's buoyancy enough that the boat is manageable when flooded.
I would always suggest keeping that sort of folding kayak close to shore, and only using them on calm days (including the coast XT). Those boats are almost impossible to recover on in deep water, particularly with any wind and waves. The best bet is to bail the boat out and swim the boat back to shore, rather than exhausting yourself trying to get back in.
The closed-cockpit Orus can be made seaworthy and are no harder to self-rescue in than a hardshell or skin-on-frame kayak. You need to understand how floatation works, and how to modify the standard ACA paddle float rescue, but they are perfectly fine for open water.
dunno if you saw this steph ruclips.net/video/gY9otanO2Ao/видео.html This is me getting back into the inlet. I found it easier not to use the bilge pump & just lift the kayak above my head to empty the water.heel toe hook reentry. that said, i have a bay and a coast and wouldnt take the inlet out into choppier waters than whats in my local lagoon.
Yeah I tried to empty it when flipped but couldn't do it. I didn't show it in the video cause it just didn't work for me.
Float bags will keep the kayak at the surface tho.... hard to rescue with your kayak on the bottom.
No, that's not what float bags are for. They just displace water, they don't make the boat float better. Please read the comments by @monkeyandchicken
Orus don't sink.
I tried with my Inlet and tbh it was not sinking but float within the water, so it was completely full of water. The float bags should avoid that, only concerned how to fix them at the Oru, so they cannot swim away if the orange plates disconnect (what should only happens for back part of course). So I would definitely recommend the float bags and a swim boje, which you can easy transport too.
Float bags help disperse the amount of water in the kayak. I use 7 inside my Coast XT.