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was another story . The team had a little trouble getting him back in his boat ; too many paddlers tried to get involved , resulting in an uncoordinated rescue . With the rocks slowly closing in , one of the towlines snapped for real . The team already had the nonambulatory casualty back in his boat with a raft set up , and they needed to switch towlines .
Right before Simone and I would intervene , the raft could be towed to safe waters , and they were making their way to the designated exit point . The casualty was brought into an emergency shelter at the exit point to warm up . Before ending the exercise , I asked the designated team leader if the situation was under control . He said yes . I asked if his whole team was accounted for . After a quick headcount , the team noticed that they were one person short ! The panicked lady in her kayak had not been taken care of ! She paddled in the other direction without anybody seeing her .
It was a relief for the whole team as she sat with a big smile a bit further away , but at the same time , it was a wake-up call to keep an oversight during incidents . To cool the team down , we returned to the water for some demos : self-rescue , explained all the possible details and pitfalls , learned how to tow quickly and effectively , scoop rescue , etc . After that , their turn , of course ! They split up into trios , one being the casualty and the other needing to scoop and tow to the nearest beach . A success , we must say , as everyone was at the top of their game !
We ended with a combined scenario where the whole group needed to help . One of the team was swept up onto some rocks by the waves . The kayak was gone , but the casualty remained on the rocks with a leg injury . No one was allowed to get close to the rocks with their kayaks , and the casualty needed to be extracted and brought to the exit point in Launay Bay for a medical check-up . So , exit the kayak and tethered with a long tow line , we swam towards the rocks . The team returned the swept-away kayak and cared for the rescue swimmer ’ s boat .
Back in the water with the casualty , the team pulled away from the danger near the rocks and scooped him back into his kayak . The team rafted up and efficiently towed the whole set-up to the exfil point . During this , the whole team stayed together . Farfetched ? But we have never heard of an ‘ overprepared ’ team , and this definitely counts as team building and learning how to solve problems together . At the end of day one , the paddlers were very satisfied and smiling !
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