You never know when you, your friends, or strangers you meet on the waterways might require a little assistance to get themselves out of danger.  Many of us had previously completed the certified PaddleUK Paddlesport Safety and Rescue course, but with the pool booked, spending 90 minutes practising the skills we’d learned seemed too good an opportunity to miss.

With Eva and Liz also preparing for their PaddleUK SUP Instructor and Paddlesport Leader qualification assessments respectively, we called in help from our friends at DavePaddles, who kindly brought along their kayak for us to practise rescuing.  Storm Darragh was hitting the UK with full force, so sadly Dave left his Canadian Canoe at home – nobody wants to drive down the motorway with one of those strapped to the roof of their van in strong winds, or a canoe rescue of different sorts would likely be required!

We practised bank-based rescues, SUP buddy rescues, safe towing, assisting tired swimmers, unconscious SUP rescues, recovering capsized kayakers back into their boats, and unconscious kayaker rescues.  Ideas, techniques, and scenarios were freely shared between the group – we all learned some new techniques, and the evening proved to be invaluable to all.

Special thanks to Tony CM for his photography skills and demonstrating an excellent SUP to SUP rescue technique which none of us had seen before.