Technique
The Round Up HOW TO RESCUE A RUNAWAY CANOE, RODEO-STYLE >> BY MARK SCRIVER
IN THE DEEP, FAST RIVERS OF THE NORTH AND WEST a capsized canoe could float for kilometres before being spit out of the current and into an eddy. Often a spray skirt and tied-in packs will make a canoe-over-canoe rescue impossible. For the sake of the paddlers, the capsized canoe, the jetti-
soned packs and the rest of the group, you need a way to get a current-borne canoe to shore. The paddlers in the water are your first concern—regard-
less of which food barrel was in their canoe. The canoe will be like an iceberg, more below the water than above, so use caution in shallow water to avoid getting people between the capsized canoe and obstacles, or getting the canoe pinned. To properly envision a rodeo rescue, imagine yourself with
chaps and a lasso, but keep it clean. Think of a cowboy roping a calf at the Calgary Stampede. You’re going to attach a rope to the canoe, wait for your moment, then paddle as fast as you
can to shore where you can pendulum the canoe to safety. You’ll need a number of throwbags linked together with carabiners. On some wide and fast rivers you could use up to four 20-metre throwbags. Have the ropes ready with the free end of each rope
clipped to the next bag’s end loop. When you reach the cap- sized canoe, you as a stern paddler should clip the free end of the last throwbag to the downstream end of the capsized canoe and then wait beside the floating canoe until the ca- noes enter a “belay zone,” a stretch of river where the shore is close enough and the current is slow enough that you will be able to paddle downstream to shore and get out of the canoe before the rope goes taut. When you get to shore, jump into the shallow water or
onto shore, anchor yourself with a safe stance or with the rope braced around a tree or rock. As the rope becomes taut
22 n C ANOE ROOT S fall 2008
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