I was interested after seeing this as the method I was taught, grabbing both their hands, is great to get them across the board but with many paddlers, it can be near impossible to rotate them lengthways on the board. Having had a practise on this though, we had some issues. Getting the leg - The leg sometimes does not float well and it was a struggle to get, sometimes needing to grab quite near thigh/groin to get the leg and pull it nearer the surface to grab the knee. Discomfort - Obviously we were conscious when practising, we found this method uncomfortable to painful on the knee being with pulled into the board or around it. Reliability - We could not get it to work every time, sometimes the rescued paddler would not be pulled enough onto the board and want to slide back off into the water, on a couple of occasions they came all the way over and could not be stopped from sliding off the opposite side of the board. Would be grateful for some tips or links to further resources.
Thanks, Barry. It's good to know your thoughts about and experiences of this. Yes, this can be a difficult rescue that requires practice and appropriate technique. Although during practice there was some discomfort, the technique shown aligns with manual handling guidance. We would encourage you to continue practising and refining the rescue technique. As an alternative, receive some coaching on this.
