I belong to a club that requires pack rafters to be able to get back into their boat unassisted while in deep water. I have watched videos that demonstrate pushing down on the side tube and pulling it under you while keeping one’s body flat on the water and kicking. I’m only 4’ 10” and my raft keeps flipping up toward me. Any tips please? Thanks in advance.
Thanks for your post @Kayakenthusiast! Have you tried placing your paddle across the width of your boat to stabilize it?
If you don’t already own The Packraft Handbook by @lucmehl , we highly recommend it. There’s some good descriptions and illustrations in there for wet rentry practice, as well as a wealth of other information!
Try grabbing the thigh straps on the opposite side of the boat and try to pull the boat under you. It needs to be one swift motion. After getting my hands on the thigh straps i will take a couple of seconds to catch my breath and then count 1,2,3 in my head before executing the re-entry. Kick, pull, and launch your torso into the boat. If you try to push off of the tube that’s closest to you, it will tip over towards you. In one hand you should be able to hold the thigh strap and paddle perpendicular to the boat, but if you have small hands then I could see that being a little more difficult. The paddle should be in the hand thats toward the bow of the packraft.
If you are 4’10 and your boat doesent have thigh straps then that’s going to be a serious issue. Shorter people do have a harder time overall with re-entry but once you figure out the right technique then it’s very reliable. Re-entry is a mandatory skill for whitewater so the club is right in requiring that.
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Thank you, Justin and Sarah!
I can’t reach the thigh braces on the other side of the boat without tipping it because my arms are too short (this is my life), but I will try again with the paddle perpendicular to the raft and in the hand that is on the bow side.
Does entering from the rear by pulling oneself up over the stern work, do you know?
I really appreciate the suggestions!
Hi @Kayakenthusiast - This is not your fault, and I question the club’s policy. Of course it is ideal for everyone to be able to get back in their own boat, but some bodies and some boats just don’t make it possible or practical. To me, the point is then to recognize that you need to be with partners who can help you get back in your boat, and you should spend some flatwater time with folks to get them good at that.
I’ve seen a few tricks for shorter paddlers in my course that you might try.
One is a ‘dolphin kick’ … I watched a woman your height who held on to the side tube and then slapped the water with both feed at once, as opposed to a flutter kick. She was able to get more power that way.
I’ve also seen a strange ‘corner’ entry … the person was able to climb it at the side and rear of the boat, using the stern’s stability.
You might also have more success in a boat with smaller tubes. Maybe you can try other people’s boats.
Good luck!
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Your encouragement and suggestions are very much appreciated! I’ll give the dolphin kick and corner entries a try. I’m hopeful. If nothing else, I’ll look at boats with smaller tubes - which might have the added benefit of being able to roll.
Have a great weekend!
A couple of things will help. One is momentum so timing the pushing down and under of the tube with a really good dolphin kick. Another thing I have taught shorter people to do is roll into the boat landing on your back. The last thing I would suggest is putting more weight in your boat, that will greatly reduce the tube coming up on the other side. Now the whole rule thing with the club doesn’t seem crazy to me as they are just trying to keep everyone safe. Usually this is brought about with either liability insurance issues or rescue abilities of the club members.
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Building on what Sarah said is to try to put the paddle across the boat and push down with one hand. This helps put weight on the away side.
you can try to combine this with pushing down on the closer tube. The trick is to try to keep moving your hand up the paddle as you pull yourself up.
I have seen people who had trouble with re-entry have success with practicing using the paddle.
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Do you have a video of the roll-onto-your-back technique?
I’ll try that, thanks!
What model of packraft are you using? Back when I was using my whitewater converted alpacka classic, I would re enter by pushing off the tubes combined with bobbing in the water and kicking up aggressively. I could avoid having the boat tip back on me. Then I switched the mage which has a bit of a curved hull like a hardshell kayak. That makes it tippy and edgy. If I try to push off the tubes, it tips back on me. I had to adapt my re-entry technique to what I described above: grab the thigh straps on the opposite side and pull the boat under me. It took some practice but I now find it easier than my old technique with my old packraft.
The mage has is narrower and has lower diameter tubes, which makes the technique that I described easier. With the mage it’s possible you might be able to get your body over the lower diameter tubes and reach thigh straps on the other side.
Thanks, Justin! I haven’t given up just yet.
I also can’t self-rescue, for me more because I’m too big; my ratio of strength to weight is too low. Same result: can’t reach the far tube, boat flips. As a kayaker I used a paddle float to self-rescue. That technique won’t work with a packraft for a variety of reasons, but I have been wondering about adding flotation to the shaft of the paddle (think segmented pool noodle) and pulling that under the hips/thighs to keep the body more horizontal in the water and also keep the paddle from running away while having both hands free to push the near tube under the body. Will play with this when I get a chance and report back. Definitely open to creative ideas!!
I have mastered self re-entry with the help of folks on this blog - THANK YOU! The keys for me were an Astral pfd with low profile front, placing one hand in the crevice between the floor of the raft and tube, holding my paddle with the other hand with the shaft perpendicular over the tops of the tubes.
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