In his interview with
SA Surfski.com
, South African elite paddler Matt Bouman said that paddlers should never go so far out to sea that they can't swim to shore.
In a comment on the surfski.info Facebook page on a recent story about a rescue in Scotland , surfski coach Boyan Zlatarev said:
I have enormous respect for both these paddlers, but both of them live and paddle in places where there is warm water and straight coastlines.
Here in Cape Town we have cold water on one side of the Cape Peninsula (15-20C) and (what we think is) very cold water on the other side (9-15C). Much of the coastline is rocky and our downwind routes go across indentations in the coastline or bays where we end up 2-4km offshore. Combine all that with a 30kt wind and big breaking waves and not many paddlers are going to be confident about swimming to shore if they lose their ski.
In fact, if we applied a "no swim, no paddle" rule here, 99% of paddlers shouldn't be doing downwind runs in Cape Town at all.
Which is why I place so much importance on safety equipment that can be used either to self-rescue, self-rescue with help from other paddlers, or to call for help from our coastguard/RNLI equivalent, the NSRI. I think it's perfectly acceptable to take the risk of paddling out of swimming range of the shore - provided you've mitigated that risk by being fit, competent and using appropriate equipment.
What do other people think?
In a comment on the surfski.info Facebook page on a recent story about a rescue in Scotland , surfski coach Boyan Zlatarev said:
It’s good to have a safety gear to fall back onto but the questions that needed to be asked were:
1. Can I swim to safety onshore on my own (including fitness abilities plus cold exposure)?
...
If the answer to any of those questions is NO then I simply don’t go and there is no communication device that should change my decision
I have enormous respect for both these paddlers, but both of them live and paddle in places where there is warm water and straight coastlines.
Here in Cape Town we have cold water on one side of the Cape Peninsula (15-20C) and (what we think is) very cold water on the other side (9-15C). Much of the coastline is rocky and our downwind routes go across indentations in the coastline or bays where we end up 2-4km offshore. Combine all that with a 30kt wind and big breaking waves and not many paddlers are going to be confident about swimming to shore if they lose their ski.
In fact, if we applied a "no swim, no paddle" rule here, 99% of paddlers shouldn't be doing downwind runs in Cape Town at all.
Which is why I place so much importance on safety equipment that can be used either to self-rescue, self-rescue with help from other paddlers, or to call for help from our coastguard/RNLI equivalent, the NSRI. I think it's perfectly acceptable to take the risk of paddling out of swimming range of the shore - provided you've mitigated that risk by being fit, competent and using appropriate equipment.
What do other people think?