More details of the canoe capsize training from last Saturday. Our friends Gerry and Kathy are volunteers at a nature center and the staff are required to practice canoe capsize training.

The center is along Deer creek and there were eight canoes involved in the training session. As you can see, Deer creek at this time of year is pretty calm, muddy looking, and a good place to run this drill.

The drill involved a canoe capsizing with another canoe being nearby. Once there is a canoe in the water, they collect themselves and get alongside each other (see image at left). The rescue canoe crew then pulls the capsized craft up and across their own (below).

Once the rescued canoe has the water drained and returned to the water, the crew members need to get back into the boat. There are several options for how to accomplish this. Persons with strong upper body strength can pull themselves into the rescued canoe while the rescuers hold the empty craft steady.

If there is a rescue strap available, it can be used in a hauling fashion to pull a victim into the canoe. Then, there is a procedure where the victim pulls themselves into the boat while the rescuers “scoop” the canoe and the victim “falls” into the canoe, as Kathy demonstrates in the last image below …