Swift water rescue at keeners by Chloe Tippett

Swift water rescue is very important if you want to kayak more challenging rivers. Swift water rescue is usually a two day course that teaches you how to get out of dangerous situations. This year at keeners I did a two day course with Matt Cucaro. The first day we learned about strainers, foot entrapment, and body entrapment. Strainers are something that water can get through but you can’t. Foot entrapment is when your foot gets caught in rocks and the current pushes you under water. Body entrapment is when you or your life jacket gets caught on something and your head is under water. On the second day we worked a lot on tethered rescues. a lot of life jackets have blow away belts. Blow away belts are belts that are connected to your life jacket. They are there so that if you need to save someone you can attach a rope and go save them. The good part about blow away belts are that if you are in danger you can pull a rope and then you are not attached to it. I think that if you’re starting to kayak you should do swift water rescue.