How Are Your Rescue Skills?

by Michael Carney - Regional Rep Co-Director, NorthCentral Region

When was the last time you practiced—actually practiced—your rescue and self-rescue skills?

Deep water recoveries are a key part of essential self-rescue skills for stand up paddleboarders, but there are a lot of things that can complicate what we take for granted when it comes to getting back on our boards. Exhaustion, water conditions, board shape, clothing and equipment are just a few variables that can make this critical skill harder when you need it most.

Modern race boards with heavily dug-out decks and tall rails can be harder, and even painful, to get back on compared to flat-deck SUPs. Rough water conditions or flowing water conditions can make narrow race boards unstable and more difficult to remount.

Paddling in the cold this winter? Thick wetsuits, dry suits, and inherently buoyant PFDs can all complicate climbing back on your SUP.

If you finish a race feeling refreshed (or at least not exhausted) then you’ve not raced your hardest, so we leave it all out on the water when it comes to competition and even during some training sessions. What happens when you are in the home stretch of a distance race, running out of energy reserves, and a rogue boat wake or unexpected wave sends you to count the fish? Getting back on your board when you’re gassed at the end of a 10k race is much harder than it sounds.

Practicing your self-rescue skills in various conditions and with different variables is a critical safety skill. Just like in our race training, if we only practice in perfect conditions then we will be unable to effectively compete when the weather turns against us. If you only practice our safety skills in perfect conditions, then when an emergency arises you may find yourself in a far more dangerous situation.

Getting back on your board is only part of the battle. When was the last time you practiced prone paddling your board in case your paddle breaks? Have you tried paddling finless or fixed a fin while on the water? While these circumstances may not happen often, the ability to effectively handle them can be the difference between paddling back yourself, or calling for help.

Are you prepared to help your fellow paddlers? While we hope to not ever see it, a bad fall in a tight fight around a buoy can leave you or your fellow racers incapacitated in the water. Can you effectively help an injured paddler back on their board or onto yours in case of an emergency?

Your rescue skills—your ability to correct a potentially dangerous situation for yourself or others—are one of the four Pillars of SUP Safety. But like any other technique they require regular maintenance. So as the weather and water warm up this spring, make sure to take some time and refresh and challenge your rescue skills. If you aren’t sure how to handle these situations, it’s the perfect time to find a certified instructor in your area to teach you!

If you’d like to learn more about SUP safety, I highly recommend reading SUP Safety—a three-part book series by New Zealand’s National SUP Safety Officer Bill Dawes that deep-dives into all things about paddling safely.