Flip Rescue

[robcasey]

The SUP Flip Rescue..
A way to get a fatigued or unconscious paddler on their board..

[Ichabod Spoonbill]

That's very clever. Thank you for that.

BTW, I love your book! I learned a lot from it.

[PonoBill]

Slick. Thanks for the video. That's a technique worth practicing.

[SlatchJim]

Back in the Cretaceous or Jurrasic, when I was a wee lad and a lifeguard, we used a 12 foot tandem rescue boards and learned this technique.  A sup board is about the most effective tool for unconscious and unassisted rescue there is.  Those cans are great for the panic stricken conscious person, but nothing works like a sup for someone who is out. 

Great vid.  Maybe the most critical and needed one ever posted here.

[Tom]

Very interesting. A year and a half ago I saved a surfers life while SUPing in the fog. The surfer, Dave S., became unconscious because his carotid arteryclosed off shutting blood flow to his brain. My self and another surfer found him face down and unconscious about 150 yards from the shore. We had to put him on top of my 9'6" SUP and I gave him CRP (chest compressions only) while still offshore. This brought him back to semi-consciousness and we paddled him back to shore.

I was amazed at how difficult it is to get an unconscious person on top of a board. The problems we encountered included the board being so floaty that it was hard to push under him, especially while we were being pushed around by waves and swell.

 Since we couldn't get him fully on top of the board, it was very difficult to give him the chest compressions. I'm sure this technique would have helped us a lot.

Here’s the video that demonstrated the technique.

[robcasey]

tom, glad you were able to help the guy, such a difficult environment to work in!  the catch 22 is once they're on the board - keeping them there particulialy in choppy water or surf. 

cheers

[headmount]

 I didn't see a vid on RobCasy's post but I watched Tom's vid.  Is that the same of what is called the flip rescue?  Looked solid and thanks.

[Tom]

I got the video from Rob's post. Not sure what happened to the post.

There were three of us involved in the rescue and looking back at the situation, I doubt that I would have been able to have saved him if I was by my self. We were fairly close to shore, but the fog rolled in so thick that we could not see the shore, and those on shore could not see us. We were very luck to have spotted him.

With the flip rescue technique I think I would have had a better chance of handling the rescue by myself.

[robcasey]

tip for keeping the person on the board - keep em' in a prone position (low center of gravity) with their paddle (if sup) under their body.  if you don't have a tow rope and it's safe (for you) use your leash attached to their paddle or if they can hold it to tow them to shore.  or find a creative solution for getting them to shore - more difficult if aways out dealing with wind or current. 

[paddlenorcal]

This is a great technique...glad to see it being taught in Instructor courses now. I know the WPA course I completed covered it in depth.

[MnSUUUPerDude]

Yeah I had to learn this in lifeguard training. Although we found it a lot easyer to not flip the board over to begin with.  If you paddle out to the victim, grab the wrist, put it on the top of the board, then flip, this will put the victims whole arm on the bottom of the board, then one more flip and the victim on on the top of the board. It take some practice, but we found it is faster, and easyer to position the victim on the board.  I hope that makes sence. try it out and let me know if it is any better for you.

[SUP Viking]

Great info! Something that should be practiced with a buddy weekly.

[outcast]

Would it make sense to start by putting the board between you and the (presumably panicked) swimmer.?

Also for SUUPerdude....are you saying a full 360 barrel roll?

[NoSaltSuper]

Would it make sense to start by putting the board between you and the (presumably panicked) swimmer.?

Also for SUUPerdude....are you saying a full 360 barrel roll?

Yeah, I think that's what he meant. But I'm waiting for his answer too.

This also makes a lot of sense, to me, for displacement boards which are more narrow.

[MnSUUUPerDude]

yes, the board does a 360 barrel roll, so that the victim os on the top deck.