With our sport growing so fast, and so many people getting on the water now, I think a few of us are forgetting to practice self rescue.
It’s not hard. It just requires a few hours away from fishing to practice something which might save your life.
My suggestion is to first practice in calm warm water. Without rigging your kayak, practice falling out and getting back in. Next, practice falling out with your kayak flipping over.

There are two common ways to re-flip a kayak. Check videos online and find what works best for you. Practice over and over again.
Last Sunday a group of new and old faces got together at Lake Sonoma to practice self rescue. Cameron Cardoza(JK fishing team member) and Allen Leepin(Hobie pro staff) are a couple who attended. Some of us had never attempted this before. Heck, it’s been over a year since I’ve done it.
The weather was nice and water was warm. We all had a blast falling out, swimming around, and getting back in our kayaks. We even traded kayaks to practice on something different. What a day well spent.
We all agreed this was a much needed experience and that our next mission was to practice on a rigged kayak, in cold water. I posted a hook-up on the NCKA.org forum and amount of attention it got was surprising. It looks like we’re going to be having a bunch of people participating. It should be fun.
I’ll report back on Part 2 (cold water self rescue) soon.