While I am new to kayak fishing (not to fishing)... I have been putting off testing my "self rescue" skills until today. 

While I have been out 10 times or so, and even caught a few salmon in the delta area, I have been putting off getting wet, cold etc... and doing the necessary prep for a trip outside the gate... crabbing etc.

Ok, so this is how it went down.  Water temp was 56 and air temp about the same.  I wanted to do a full "dress rehearsal".  3 mil wetsuit over a thin poly long sleeve shirt.  Wool sweater over the wetsuit, windbreaker over that.. and of course PFD.  I then just walked the kayak into the water until I was shoulder deep.  I was a bit cold at first, but once water got into the wetsuit I was fine.

I didn't want to paddle out and then jump into over my head water and then find out I couldn't turn the yak over or get back into it.

So the first thing I did was try to get up and into the yak.  I pushed it away from me about 6 feet, then without using the bottom, I got my body level with the water and swam toward it and was able to get my chest up on top of the yak just in front of the seat. I then worked my body counter clockwise lifting my legs up and I was into the kayak without much issue.  A bit of effort, and slightly winded the first time, but easy enough. 

Next was to try the back entry.
I went back into the water, and this time entered from the rear.  I have my wheels mounted upside down through the scupper holes and I was easily able to just grab onto the axle bar and use that to pull and slide myself up upon the tail. I could sit on the tail and it floated well enough for me to be there and not submerge the yak.  A climb over the seat and the wheels, not convenient, but doable. 

So two ways to get back onto the kayak without any leverage from the seafloor. 

Then came the next part.  Flip the kayak itself over and try to get it flipped back upright again.
This didn't go so well as planned.

The plan was (from watching a few youtubes) was to get my body over the middle of the capsized  hull, and grap the handle on the other side, then use body weight to pull it over.  NOPE! Not going to happen.  The hull was so slippery and my Hobie Mirage kayak is 34 inches wide and I could not get my hand anywhere near the handle on the other side. NO WAY!

The second plan was to reach underneath and grab the far handle from under, then pull with that arm and push up with the other. NOPE!  Not with a PDF on... and my arm could not reach that far to get to the underside handle.. not even close!

Solution?

I grabbed the bottom of the Mirage drive...which is obviously in the middle and pulled on that.. and whoalla... it flipped right back over without much effort.  Made no difference if the pedal fins were up or down... piece of cake. 

I then thought about... if for some reason my Mirage drive falls out.... or comes unleashed (mine is leashed) could I still do that?  I went into the shore and dropped off my Mirage drive and then went back out with just the open hole and tried... and NO PROBLEM!  The open hole is easy to grip and flip over. 

Now my Kayak is only 73 pounds (12f) and being 6 ft tall... I weigh about 175 soaking wet.. so I was really glad to know I could get it flipped over without issue.

I then went out and jumped, flipped and re entered 12 times! 
I did it until I felt like.. "ok, this is a total non issue... I got this.. and could do this blindfolded"

Now this whole ordeal had me in 56 degree water for about an hour and 15 minutes.  I never really felt "cold".. but when another kayaker came in from fishing nearby, I spoke with him about what I was doing.. and how he was doing... and I noticed my voice was just a bit shaky half yelling from about 40 yards away.  This did surprise me a bit.  My feet were not cold.  My hands were getting cold as I had no gloves. Fingers getting that pink cold look and some loss of motion...nothing serious.  Arms were slightly cold feeling as I have a farmer style overalls wetsuit....but again, I had been wet for close to an hour and a half in 56 degree water and air.

So taking this all to heart, I feel great about my confidence to self recover.  Not sure if I were to tip over once, would I be able to continue fishing or should I immediately move toward shore at that point?  Not sure if being wet and back ontop of my kayak... I would gradually get colder as time goes on.. or would I stay warm enough to keep fishing/ crabbing etc?

I feel like it would be very rare to go over in my kayak.... as it is very stable.  However, it is very good to know you can manage the situation with confidence before it happens. I hear about yaks going over in the surf... both launching and landing (surf).  Not a big worry there because you are close to shore.. and the waves would push both you and your yak into the beach naturally.  Also hard to imaging getting tipped once past the breakers with just normal ocean swells.

So my recommendation for any "newbies" like me... DO THIS! 
If you haven't purposefully tried your self rescue skills... DO THIS SOON! 
It's also good to do it this time of year when it is cooler so you have confidence in a wider spectrum of situations.  Make sure you can get your yak flipped back up... and that you can get back into it.  It's a really good feeling to know you have 100% confidence this will NOT be an issue for you if or when it happens.  Peace of mind is a good thing!

As much as we think we can trust others to come to our aid... or the red button on the radio... no for sure guarantees there.  Best to know YOU got THIS!

Thanks for the report.  Great info!  I have read about people grabbing the drive to right the kayak. Is the drive tough enough to use as the first course of action to flip the kayak or should it be a last resort?

Thanks for the report.  Great info!  I have read about people grabbing the drive to right the kayak. Is the drive tough enough to use as the first course of action to flip the kayak or should it be a last resort?

On the bottom side of my Mirage drive, it is almost like two cylinders that my hands fit firmly around.  Perfect really.  Then I just pull toward me and my yak rights itself... no problem.  But again, mine is only 73 pounds....so total with the 12 pound drive... 85 roughly total.

For me though.. it is the ONLY resort, because my arms can't reach across the bow when upside down... nor under.  34" wide and my arms are not long enough.  (I don't have short arms and stand 6')

I really recommend to anyone who has not tried their own self rescue to do this... fully garbed up and in cold water.  Just do it from a place where you can get up to your shoulders but still have your feet on the bottom.  This way you have the safety of having to use your feet from bottom if you can't work it out....., but then you can also test yourself without using that ground leverage. 

When trying to get back ontop of your yak, you will be best to swim from about 6 feet away and use that momentum to slide your chest back across mid kayak.  Then just twist your body around and lift your legs and you are back in your yak no problem.

The other option for me was coming in from the back, and I have the wheels locked into the scupper holes, so I can just grab onto the axle and pull myself onto the tail.  I don't weight enough to raise the front up... it still sits flat in the water with me cowboy just above the rudder. 

Good on you for getting out and drilling!  Even better for sharing your experience.

These are good drills to do annually -- right after rockfish season closes is when I do them.  When you go lizard brain because your kayak exit was unplanned and maybe the water was a little more surprising, it's good to have the muscle memory to get back in -- especially in sporty conditions that are more likely to knock you out.  Another good drill to add to this is to roll out of the kayak while moving and see how far it glides away and what that swim is like.  Once you have these flatwater drills checked and feel confident... get a buddy or three and head out to more sporty conditions and do the same drills with a safety watch.  Have your buddy have a throw line in case you get tired.  They can pull you back to their boat and let you rest alongside.

As for the water temperature and "feeling cold," you were exhibiting pre-hypothermia symptoms masked by adrenaline.  The good news is adrenaline will let you get a lot of shit done.  The bad news is, the adrenaline causes overconfidence and complacency.  The time between "my hands are a little pink, but I can still do things" and "I hope my PFD keeps my face out of water while I float unconcious" can be minutes in colder water.  56° F is not too cold, so it does buy you more time, but it's still cold.

I love this thread!  Good for you.  And good for us you sharing a fantasticx write-up.  I like the part about not feeling hypothermic, and the other yakker shared his observations you probably were getting there.

I bet 60% of the people on this board have not done self-rescue practice (God I hope I'm wrong).  The first time I ever took a kayak out in the ocean that is what I did.  Practiced launch and landings at Twin Lakes Beach, in my wetsuit and no equipment onboard.  For a couple hours at least.  Nothing but re-entries!  When I finally flipped my yak one day while fishing, I had it right side up and I was in the boat within 30 seconds. 

Another good practice is 'assisted rescue" helping out your buddy when he's flipped.  while I have not had to do a water re-entry in a really long time, I get regular practice doing the assist.  If you're the guy on the dry boat, #1 is talk low and soothing to the guy in the water. Remind him he's dressed correctly for immersin, and his PFD is doing its job. *caaalllmmm*

Then, Open your eyes really wide, look past him and scream   "OH MY GOD!!!!"

That's what I do with my kayak fishing clients who go in the water. haha not really.  No, actually, I bump their boat away and start negotiating surcharges for the Santa Cruz Kayak Fishing Self-Rescue class. 

Sseriously My first task is to get ther boat right side up, keep them calm and remind them "Do NOT drop my rod!"


Bushy

This is awesome.  Good job and great write up.

Also hard to imaging getting tipped once past the breakers with just normal ocean swells.

Sorry to hear about your lack of imagination...

Jokes aside, this happens way more frequently than you might imagine.  Turn your head around to get something behind you, with your head outside the gunwales and plooop you're wet.  Take on water from a small leak, failed gasket, open hatch, or loose/forgotten drain plug and you become progressively more unstable.  Also why you need to have a pump with you.

Seriously great write up and way to spend the time now to create that muscle memory for when it's important and conditions might be suboptimal. 

Swim fins is a great piece of safety gear Because my days used to be mixed between fishing and free diving I always had them with me and if I go back to fishing will be carrying them again

Two times I’ve been separated from my yak in serious circumstances and fins were my best friends

Other people have heard this one but I rescued a guy whose yak sank a few years back He was in full wetsuit and an experienced free diver, but in this case was just out fishing so no fins

Where his yak sank it gets super rough with currents and confused water from wind swell and backwash and at times seemed like his head was underwater more than it was above. I work in ICUs and know what a blue face is about, his was blue-gray even w a full suit Took two hours to get us a third of a mile or so fighting current and 3-4’ high slop coming from all directions

I made a couple of mistakes but got some first hand experience how tough a rescue is and know a few things I’d do different now

A lot of this is repeat talk here but nothing wrong with that

Shitloads of people are loading up big heavy yaks to fish the ocean these days and lots of them with no prior ocean experience of any kind

Obviously if you lose your yak one way or another and fins go with it they’re not going to do you any good. For fishing they are probably of limited use unless you have a slow sinking yak and time to pull them out

The yak I watched sink in Marin went down fast, I wasn’t timing but probably a minute or less. He had had it into a reputable shop for a scupper repair which apparently didn’t hold

The yak was overloaded but so are most you see on the water It was pretty rough and his yak didn’t look stable when I passed him but he was probably just chalking it up to the conditions

Anyway things happened stunningly fast, I heard an f bomb wafting on the wind, looked around and saw him in the water, hung a uturn and before I got to him the yak pointed end up and slid to the bottom like the titanic

Current was ripping the wrong direction for him to go back to Muir so if somebody hadn’t been around his best bet would’ve been to swim up to the little nudie beach above there but that wouldn’t be a lazy swim

If I ever end up with a TI my son and I will practice swimming it in through the surf. Fins would be a must in that case

DaFins float by the way and mine fit over booties