At noon, I paddled on the Columbia River for practice in case of capsized kayak.
As I lean my upper body to the left or the right, kayak also leans to the left or the right. Even if kayak lists in some degree, it doesn’t capsize since buoyancy makes a force in opposite direction and makes kayak stable. But, as soon as kayak lists beyond the limit of angle, it tips over not slowly but quickly.
My body, which is still fitted into the cockpit of the kayak, becomes upside down in the water. It never becomes slanted, becomes upside down. The light of the sky flickers under my feet through the water surface. Calmly, I detach equipment connecting my body and the cockpit, crawl out from the cockpit, and then come to the surface to breath.
I turn over the kayak floating upside down, with my weight.
Crawling up kayak floating on the water is a difficult task even on calm water with no wave, because there is no ground or structure act as a support for a force of body, and kayak is unstable and easily tips over. I crawl up the kayak by doing flutter kicks or using a small float attached to a paddle, and then crawl into the cockpit.
Finally, I evacuate water from the inside of the kayak by a manual pump.
While I was practicing repeatedly for about two hours, I was getting tired and was feeling sick slightly. I came back to the tent and got a nap for about one hour.
