The Wet Exit

AMC Outdoors, May 2007

You've just flipped your kayak. Now what?

It’s often the first safety drill you do—and one of the most important. The wet exit is your last line of defense when you flip. You’re upside down and you try to roll once—and fail. Then a second time. No dice. Third time? Not happening. You’ve already tried tapping the hull of your kayak, but your fellow boaters are not close enough to help. With little air left in your lungs, you eject.

STAY CALM  “People feel trapped in this situation,” says Tom McEwan, director of the Liquid Adventures Kayak School on Washington, D.C.’s Potomac River. “It’s not a position anyone is too familiar with. It’s a source of terror.” The best thing to do is keep your wits about you. Simple familiarity with being upside down helps. McEwan holds beginning kayakers’ hands when he first tips them upside down. Next, he asks them to count to three with their fingers up out of the water while inverted. “During the three count, I tell them to think about being calm, cool, and collected. You have to have the right mentality.”

GET INTO POSITION  When you flip in rough water the first step is to assume a protected position so you don’t get walloped by a submerged rock. This also puts you in the right place to access the grab loop at 12 o’clock. However, rather than making a stab at finding it, McEwan suggests reaching for the lip of the cockpit and sliding your hands to the top. For beginners, it’s best to have a looser spray skirt so it more easily peels off. And what do you do if the grab loop is mistakenly tucked under and out of reach? Pull on the sides of the spray skirt rather than the top where there’s less tension and it’s more likely to come right off.

CLEAR YOUR LUNGS  After the skirt is off, it’s crucial to clear your legs from the boat. “Otherwise, it will feel like the boat is weighing you down,” says McEwan. “It’s like wiggling out of a tight pair of pants.” Place two hands on the side of the cockpit and push. At this point, your boat may be floating downstream along with your paddle, water bottle, and whatever else was in there. Don’t worry about it—especially if you’re still in the rapid. Assume the whitewater swim position (on your back, facing downriver, nose and toes out of the water) and let your buddies collect your gear.

- Christopher Percy Collier