Author Topic: Tips for getting on a sup or kayak from the back of a motor or sailboat?  (Read 1812 times)

robcasey

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Any tips for getting on a sup or kayak from the back of a motorboat or sailboat?  I've had a few requests from folks on this, so wanted to get info to write a blot post on it.  Thanks. 
Rob Casey
Salmon Bay Paddle
PSUPA
Seattle

surfcowboy

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If it's an inflatable, push it a few feet out and jump! ;)


Seriously it's a bit weird. Safest is to get into the water and mount as normal. I say this because the way you will hurt yourself is hitting the boat.

If someone must, then there's a pretty difficult process that involves putting your outside foot on the board while supporting your weight with your hands on the side of the boat. (I'd recommend the side of most boats unless they have a swim platform.) then you have to support your weight fully as you put your other foot on. I'd recommend people do this and lower to their knees so they can paddle away from the boat before standing.

Again I would offer that the only truly safe way to do this is to exit the boat and climb on the board due to the risk of injury falling against the boat. If you're writing a book or lesson, I'd stay with that.

This is just my beginner way of doing it.

Honestly I usually do it like a jackass and just sort of hop/push away which is super dangerous but I'm on an inflatable when I'm around a boat so I can be a bit rougher with the take off.

blackeye

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There's some sort of disconnect between big and little boats. The motion on either is so different from the other. In transitioning from big to little I think the biggest lesson is to centre your weight over the board/kayak with one foot, then the other then get your body as low as quickly as possible. Its super important to keep the little boat under your weight the whole time, so that the motion is one of vertical movement and not, or at least minimize, horizontal movement.

Depending on the height of the big boat's hull/sheerline above the board/kayak, I have found that either sitting on the toerail with your feet on the little boat might be a good start, then shift your weight slowly overboard and centered on the little boat. Going from little to big is the reverse, with the emphasis on as little horizontal movement as possible. If the drop/climb is larger than that, (get a less of a big ass boat) lower your body over the side facing the big boat until your feet make contact with the little boat. And vice versa for climbing back on: grab hold, then swing a leg up and roll onto the deck of the big boat. Fenders are everybody's friend, particularly a delicate composite board against an expensive show-piece big boat hull. 

Another chapter would be how to launch your composite boards from the cabin top of a boat. Very carefully is the answer. The first one is easy, then you kick it away tethered by its leash, then launch the other. While wrangling the other, the first springs back and the second one's fin comes down like a hatchet onto a log made out of carbon fibre bark and foam wood.

 


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