Water safety for beginners

Beginners guide to… WATER SAFETY

Words: Richard Harpham Photos: Richard Harpham, Ashley Kenlock and the RNLI Water is a unique resource. It can give life and take it away. As an island nation, our heritage is built on using rivers, canals and the high seas to trade and explore the planet we call home. In many faith models, it is the cleansing of the body that leaves us pure.

For me, I was born a ‘water baby', and most of my life have embraced a deep connection to water. As a kid I learned to sail, canoe and kayak, windsurf by joining Viking Kayak Club or saying yes to opportunities. Now years later, with over 11,000 miles of expeditions, a qualified commercial diver, a qualified coach and leader, I want to share some of my safety and survival tips for white water, the sea and general water immersion.

Living in a town with Britain’s fourth longest river, there are tragic drowning accidents from time to time resulting in local media coverage suggesting strange currents and undertows concluding everyone should avoid the river and water sports. Whilst these are undoubtedly sad and tragic accidents, they are often from people under the influence or who are weak swimmers or misadventure. It’s a grim stat, that water-related accidents claim over 400 lives a year in the UK and accounts for over 100,000 rescues and incidents according to RoSPA. (Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents) many of which are paddling incidents.

RESCUE TECHNIQUES

There is a useful hierarchy of water rescue techniques published by RoSPA, which are developed into rescue strategies as part of the FSRT (Foundation Safety Rescue Training).

Technique

Talk

Reach (use a paddle)

Throw (throwlines)

Wade

Row/paddle

Swim

Tow (use your craft)

Carry

Explanation

Try to talk to the victim to safety – see if they can help themselves.

Reach to aid the victim, could be a branch, a paddle or even some clothes knotted together.

Throw an aid to the victim, practice with a line, work on underarm skills and overarm as well.

Wade into the water and provide aid to the victim. In moving water, this can be extremely difficult, and you risk being swept away. In white water safety, we use live bait (a rescue swimmer attached to a line).

Row out to the victim and help them into your boat/provide them with aid. As potential canoe, kayak and SUP paddlers, I have rescued countless people over the years.

Swim out to the victim and provide them with aid. Make sure you can cope with the conditions, river, sea or lake including water temperature.

Swim out to the victim and tow them back to safety using an aid. Learn these skills by taking a life-saving course.

Using direct physical contact, remove the victim from danger.

If you are reading this article and thinking I can’t swim or lack water confidence, then book some lessons! In terms of rescue techniques, the golden rule for this is to assess the situation, self, team and then victim before taking action. Seeing the hazards and completing a dynamic risk assessment allows ‘would be’ rescuers to assist without exacerbating the situation.

TOP TIPS

1. Learn to swim 2. Practice rescues, sign up for a course and feel confident in your skills.

OUTDOOR SWIMMING

Outdoor swimming is a growing movement and reconnects us with wild open spaces, tranquil pools and reed bed streams, the same places our ancestors learnt to swim. It has significant benefits for fitness, endurance and mental health. Many paddlers use it for cross-training and an opportunity to mess about in the water. We love it and spend many lunch hours and our off-season swimming in rivers, lochs and the sea throughout the year. It takes time to acclimatise to the autumn and winter months, usually resulting in shrieks and gasps. Outdoor swimming websites identify safe swimming spots and guidelines on best practice and remember in winter; there are no lifeguards on most beaches.

TOP TIPS

1. Learn to swim in a pool and then take those skills to the great outdoors with wild swimming, using a buoyancy aid until you are confident. 2. Build endurance with swimming outdoors, treading water and general confidence. 3. Develop your breathing rhythm for swimming particularly in choppy water 4. Join a local group (many on FaceBook) to swim with others, and they will always know in-depth local knowledge.

COLDWATER IMMERSION

Hypothermia is a hazard that is well publicised and creates a sense of realism and fear when discussing watersports or on first aid refresher courses. However, many people confuse feeling cold and wet with Hyperthermia. Coldwater immersion can create a real sense of panic. Whilst skiing in Norway I fell through the ice crossing a lake and getting out was pretty tricky. While achieving this, my language deteriorated in raw shades of blue as I fell back in. I was then faced with an 8-9km ski with the frozen kit. I am happy to report that my Paramo Clothing passed that test with flying colours and probably saved my life.

DEFENSIVE SWIMMING

Defensive swimming is an important survival technique for swimmers in swift water or white water. Training as a professional paddling instructor has involved various courses with exciting titles like white water rescue and advanced white water rescue. A core skill of the courses is learning defensive swimming in bigger rapids and white water. The idea of launching yourself into a raging torrent may seem alien to most people, but it is essential to learn the appropriate skills in a real and testing environment. Defensive swimming involves; 1. Swim on your back with feet facing downstream. 2. Knees slightly bent and lower than your bum. 3. Do not put your feet down or they will slow down, and you will end up head first. 4. Set angle to 45 degrees and use backstroke to

‘ferry glide’ or traverse across the river. 5. Try and enter slow-moving water called eddies (usually at the edges). 6. It is Ok to flip onto your front and use front crawl to reach an eddy or safe water. 7. Be aware of foot entrapment hence keeping your feet up.

PADDLING SAFELY

Post lockdown and with the prospect of international travel reduced, more people are investing in UK staycations including paddling craft, canoes, kayaks and SUP’s galore. The explosion onto our waterways is marked, and the SUP revolution is leading the way. Part of this is an increase in inexperienced paddlers heading out onto rivers, lakes and the sea. Recognising the hazards in the conditions is vital to paddle safely. The rise in inflatable kayaks and SUPs provide easy access but can be tricky in tides and windy conditions. Weirs, sluices and human-made structures can be fatal forming stoppers (recirculating water) with a tow back that holds the victim. Green buoys guard many on navigable rivers but not always! Fallen or overhanging trees equally can present a serious risk in moving water where they act like a sieve called a strainer allowing the water to pass through and holding the paddler and or the craft. Other hazards to avoid in more significant white water are undercuts (where the bank erodes and causes a gap which can trap a paddler), siphons (the flow sucked under a large rock), and bridges which can cause a pinning obstacle. White water paddling is fantastic, pitting you against the mysterious drops, waves and flow of the river but can go wrong. Over the years, I have been pinned on rocks with my legs trapped on several occasions which is scary and has required my teammates to rescue me.

Simple tips for safe paddling include staying close to shore on open water, paddling in calm conditions and wearing a leash and BA when SUP’ing on open water. Wearing the right kit is an obvious fix as well as carrying spare equipment, a means of contacting emergency services and perhaps some simple rescue kit(pin kit).

TOP TIPS

1. Get some professional instruction, join a local club and learn paddling and self-rescue skills. 2. Paddle within your abilities for the conditions. 3. Carry a saw in your buoyancy aid for cutting canoe thwarts and ‘pin kits’ (pulleys, prussiks, carabiners) and throw lines on white water. 4. Download useful apps for location and positioning (What Three Words, OS Locate and GB Postcode

Finder) and register your phone with the emergency services. 5. Download Weather apps such as Windfinder and

Magic Seaweed for better forecasting.

SEA SURVIVAL

The sea is an altogether different beast with a range of hazards to be aware of. For all of us as kids, and bigger kids going to the beach conjures up fond memories of sunny days, ice creams and playing in the sea. My journeys by sea kayak have seen me cross the channel on three occasions, Scotland to Ireland and the Isle of

Man as well as 1,000 miles of the Inside Passage from Vancouver to Alaska. There are plenty of occasions where we have been well outside our comfort zone on big open sea crossings, in deteriorating conditions and generally holding on, terrified! Some of the critical things that have made a difference when facing these kinds of risks include being fit and with the right skills. Beyond this, we carry a range of safety equipment, and like insurance, we hope we never have to use. Kit includes EPIRB beacons (Emergency Positioning International Rescue beacons), marine flares and VHF Radios. However, when facing big seas in a small sea, kayak complacency is not the answer. The other kit we have also helped increase our survival chances if things go badly wrong. Good drysuits, buoyancy aid, and good kit help reduce the risk. On big crossings, we also have to contend with other marine craft, hydration, energy levels and making good plans. You can see some of our bigger sea kayaking and SUP exploits on our new Canoe Trail YouTube Channel with some pretty raw footage. As novices treat the sea with respect, stay close to shore, particularly if faced with offshore winds. Find out about tides, undertows and local rip currents rather than becoming another statistic.

TOP TIPS

1. Support the RNLI as you never know when they might save your life. 2. Ask the locals, from fishermen or women to the

lifeboat crew they know the local waters well. 3. Get the forecast including tide times, flows and weather. 4. Stay close and only tackle activities within your ability. If you aim to ‘Go Big’ then hire a professional instructor to de-risk it for you.

ACCESS RIGHTS

We currently have limited access rights to our inland waters, rivers and lakes (except in Scotland with its right to roam). Current legislation prohibits paddling, swimming or other activities unless there is a statutory right of navigation or local access. British Canoeing is lobbying for a change to allow river access for swimming, dogs and paddling with http://www.riveraccessforall.co.uk.

TOP TIP

1. Be informed about access rights and sign up for the river access campaign.

SIGNING OFF

Paddlesports including SUP, canoeing and kayaking, sea kayaking and wild swimming are all ways to boost mental health, fitness and feeling good. They come with an assumed risk that water can be dangerous if we don’t know what we are doing or paddle in conditions outside our skill level. Don’t forget it might be someone else in trouble, so having good first aid knowledge and skills to help might save their life. As a paddler I have rescued other paddlers, countless inflatable dinghies getting blown out to sea, and even a sailing dinghy on my London to Marrakech trip. Make sure you tell others where you are heading and wear the right kit for the conditions. Learning new skills is fun, so find out what is on offer near you (some elements won’t be possible with social distancing restrictions).

Please stay safe and enjoy our magnificent rivers, lakes and seas.