Of the many rescues most of us practice on a regular basis, perhaps none is better known than the T rescue. In that well-known move, immediately a paddler capsizes, he or she pops the sprayskirt, wet exits, thrashes to the surface and, with the assistance of a second paddler, empties the flooded kayak for re-entry. The intermediate steps are lifting the bow before positioning the swimmer’s boat and crawling back into the cockpit by way of a stirrup, scoop or cowboy-up.

There’s a fair amount of drifting and muscling involved meanwhile. And, in theory, once the paddler has scrambled back into the cockpit and snugged the sprayskirt down, off the group goes. There’s nothing left to do now but reassemble the confidence a group needs to paddle in a pod weakened by a capsize recovery—a phenomenon known as capsize virus, when one capsize in a group tends to cause more.

One problem with this widely-practised rescue, at least from the perspective of paddling in rougher water or higher winds, is the element of complexity. First, one has to wet exit, placing in the water from head to toe a paddler who now needs help getting back into his boat; second, the swimmer has to separate himself from his most significant source of flotation, the kayak itself; third, the swimmer has to muscle the capsized kayak into T position while waves break or winds blow swimmer, boat, and rescuer offshore, ashore or downcoast.

Here’s an alternative to practise this winter in the pool. After you capsize and discover or decide you can’t roll, don’t wet exit the boat. Rather, stay in the boat, rat swim to the surface, and tread water while you await a bow rescue or decide to attempt another roll.

In short, by practicing the rat swim (a well-known whitewater paddling move) you not only breathe while you remain within your cockpit, but also keep your skirt secure while you set up for a fast and dirty bow rescue.

HERE ARE THE KEYS TO THE MOVE.
First, ask yourself which is your onside, or the side on which you feel more coordinated. If you are like most, your onside is likely your right. This is the side you want to capsize towards. In most cases, righties should practise by capsizing to starboard, lefties to port.

Next with your sprayskirt secure and a friend standing by in the shallow end to reassure you, capsize towards your onside.

Once you’re underwater, take a three-four-count as you twist in the cockpit so that you lie in the water face down, chest parallel to the water’s surface. Your pfd’s buoyancy will help. Counting will help you relax—key to the move.

Once you’ve relaxed, allow your body to go limp within the cockpit. Specifically, allow your hips to go limp. To ensure that your hips and thighs are as relaxed as possible, let your feet fall from the footpegs and allow knees to fall in against each other within the cockpit. You want to become a rag-doll, essential for the crux of the move.

Now twist within the cockpit, as if trying to kneel on the sidewall of the cockpit (starboard wall for righties, port for lefties).

You’ll find this position places you chest down, backside up, placing your torso parallel to the water’s surface. Take a couple of relaxed dogpaddle strokes and, presto, you’ll be able to raise your head to the surface. Once you’re up there you can break, and even swim several yards with the boat, all without popping the sprayskirt.

Continue to dogpaddle, as if gathering big soft piles of laundry in towards your torso.

Wow! Look! The combination of dog paddle, body position and pfd flotation will hold your head on the surface. One more stroke and…here comes a companion for a fast and easy bow rescue. Your sprayskirt is still secure. You can lift yourself from your friend’s bow or stern, and there you will be, sitting in a still dry boat.

Nonetheless, take a calm breath or two while you float. If no one’s close enough yet for a rescue, relax, allow your torso to sink below the surface, and dog paddle up for a breath once more.

As you float and drop, float and drop in a sequence similar to the widely-taught swimmer’s survival float, consider your options. Shall you position the paddle for a roll? Is anyone close enough for a bow rescue? Or is it truly time now to wet-exit and begin the rather laborious T rescue you had hoped to avoid? Chances are, waiting for that fast and dirty bow rescue will be the better choice.

So really: Why a rat swim and not the wet-exit-and-T-rescue?

For starters, you avoid flooding your kayak which otherwise will require emptying by way of more time-consuming T or H rescues.

Second, if you rat swim, you remain within your boat, sprayskirt secure and three-quarters towards where you want to be at the end of a rescue anyhow.

Third, and most important, learning to rat swim will change your frame of reference psychologically. Whereas capsizes once may have meant no longer paddling and no longer being a paddler, now capsizes simply mean bracing the kayak a little differently than you have before. You don’t leave the boat. You become a paddler using hands rather than paddle to create recovery strokes. Moreover, with the rescue already three-quarters done, all you need to do is continue acting like a paddler as you await a bow, stern, or paddle with which to right yourself.

Give the rat swim a try this winter down at the local pool. Do so and you’ll find yourself that much more confident and relaxed when you’re wilderness paddling next season.

TIPS AND POINTERS

Should the rat swim and the endless supplies of breaths it provides continue to elude, here are some pointers.

1. If, once upside down, you become confused about what to do, imagine that your kayak is see-through. Then (this is meant to be humorous) imagine that you’ve pulled your pants down and that you want to moon the paddlers around you (hey, humor helps you relax). To moon your pals, of course, you need to turn over in the cockpit if you want to lift your rear end skyward. If you can’t picture yourself mooning your friends, rear end gleefully glistening on the surface, you haven’t turned over within the cockpit.

2. If the above fails, try the following: don’t force your head to the surface; rather, dog paddle calmly and slowly. The less you thrash, the more your pfd’s buoyancy will help raise your head to the surface. Dog paddling with small, fast strokes will also help you swim around with the boat.

3. Once your head breaks the surface, change the dog paddle to a modified breaststroke: make with your hands a series of heart-shaped patterns just below your sternum. The increased lift will make it easier to tread water and take a breath or two.

4. Finally, should all else fail, check to make sure that your hips are loose within the cockpit so that the kayak capsizes fully upside down on top of you. The position is impossible unless you release all leg, hip, and butt contact within the boat.