P.S.R.C. Course, 10th June, Treffgarne Quarry

P.S.R.C., 10 June 2023 @ 9am, Treffgarne Quarry

Blog by Teresa Nash

P.S.R.C. - Paddlesport Safety and Rescue Course (formerly F.S.R.T. - Foundation Safety and Rescue Training). Course taken by Sam from Paddle West.

This Course was supported by Pembrokeshire Paddlers (for those who went from this Club). These included me, Jake Canton and Lauren Prout. Initially, those of adequate ability were invited and encouraged by the Club to do the Course. Three of us decided to do it and were supported by the Club throughout.

We met at Treffgarne Quarry @ 9am.

Attendees: 6 paddlers, plus our Course Tutor, Sam. Vessels included: 3 sit-in kayaks, 1 sit-on kayak, 1 stand-up paddle board, 1 Canadian Canoe. Sam brought along an extra paddle board and Canadian Canoe for us to use.

Conditions: Calm, very mild and it was raining.

Course purpose: to deal with emergencies out on the water; to use when teaching methods of rescue on sheltered water.

The Course started with an introductory chat, assessing also how much each person knew about paddling, their ability in their preferred paddling vessel and where they wanted to go after having completed this Course.

We all had a little paddling warm-up in our vessels. There was a lot to take in on the course, but areas of rescue covered using all 4 types of vessel and rescuing in/on all those vessels too, so the course was very comprehensive in the range that it covered. Rescues included rescuing yourself, rescuing one other and then rescuing a total group of 4 people out paddling (in all different types of vessels and in a scenario unknown to the 2 leaders).

Without going into everything, as it would end up with me writing pages and pages, and without experiencing it hands on, I will highlight a few things of interest to me…otherwise you’ll probably all end up falling asleep. If someone appears to be in danger and may need rescuing or to prevent this from happening: -

• Always make sure you are safe first, then any group of people with you, then approach said person in danger

• C.L.A.P. - Communication (talk to everyone/each other), Line of sight (make sure everyone is in your sight/keep them together as much as possible)

• Avoidance/anticipation (of danger)

• Position (be where you need to be as a leader - not always at the front of a group - position of maximum usefulness)

• Before you go out, have a group chat and explain communication signals, explain ‘staying calm’ frame of mind, point out ‘stronger paddlers’ in the group, who may be able to help you.

• Use your own vessel as a lever or even rotation point, to save heavy lifting when trying to empty a capsized vessel

• Any items used for rescuing should not be permanently fixed…they should be easy to detach.

• Forming a raft and moving weak paddlers, in their vessel, over a short distance to safety.

• The Eskimo ’T’ Rescue is now not encouraged. Approach to said vessel/rescuee is encouraged to be a 45 degree angle, which gives the ‘victim’ more length of boat to grab hold of.

I could go on here - there was so much ground covered.

New items and use of for me: towline attached to easily detached velcro waist belt, 5m safety line (webbing) to help weak/tired paddlers step into their vessels.

This course was very hands-on. Sam made sure we practiced all these different types of rescues thoroughly. He encouraged those who could roll, to roll, as this is part of self-rescue.

At 1pm we stopped for lunch-break. This was under cover (make-shift awning cleverly racked up by Sam). Rescue items on land which we spoke about were: KELLY Kettle (pan thing which burns wood etc and has a jacket kettle on top. Water in the jacket heats up and you put the fuel on the fire down the gap in the middle). Google this to fully understand. The other thing was a Bothy shelter, which you can all huddle into and use each other’s heat to warm up. Again, Google it to fully understand. I had never heard of these. I can only speak for myself in this blog.

We were all wet and some were feeling cold, so tea/coffee and something to eat did help those to warm up somewhat and re-fuel. The break was about 1/2 an hour.

We then carried on with the rescues, putting them into practice on each other.

At about 3.15pm we started winding down the day, taking equipment and vessels out of the water and carrying them back to base (a short walk relatively). Everybody dried off, had a munch and a drink and we went over the whole Course experience. We asked any questions, mentioned what we gained out of the day and also what items we would think of getting since we have completed the Course. My chosen items: towline, 5m webbing line for general help/use and possibly a first aid kit.

Items which are imperative to take out on any paddling visit: must wear personal floatation device, appropriate headgear (depending on where you are/what you are doing), mobile phone (from which you can make emergency calls). I have a whistle too, to get attention in urgent situations.

We all parted ways at about 5pm.

All in all, it was an absolutely fabulous Course and I would encourage others to do it, if possible. It’s really thorough.

Appreciation and thank yous go to Pembrokeshire Paddlers (without them this probably wouldn’t have happened for me), also to Sam from Paddle West (for being such a thorough and jolly tutor) and then to the others who attended (for getting wet and cold and putting themselves forward for rescue - we all had our turn at this.