Postby tomatkins » Wed May 21, 2014 6:18 pm
Here are some pictures of typical buoy set-ups, showing above the water and below the water, what you will be up against when attempting a rescue. The "can" and the "cap" design of all navigational buoys is meant to discourage boaters from tying up the the buoy or from climbing up onto the buoy... only the "mooring" type buoy has a design to allow a boat to tie-up to it.
Also, keep in mind that it is illegal under USA federal and state regulations to tie-up a boat to a navigational buoy or to climb on it, or do anything to the buoy that might damage it or reduce its channel marking or safety capacity.
The act of attempting to rescue a person who is pinned against or tangled with a buoy, where there exists an underlying current... has a lot, in common, with a "river rescue", which a kayaker or rafter would refer to as a "swift current" or "moving water" rescue of a victim who is tangled up in a hazard on a river. Examples of this would be a kayaker that is "broached" on a rock or piling, or who is caught in a "strainer" or is a victim of "foot entrapment". In all these cases, the standard means of rescue is to position the rescue personnel "upstream" of the victim, and to work from that position on a "belay", whereby the victim can be pulled "upstream", against the current, and pulled free from the hazard.
A technique that river-runners use, involves stretching a rope across the river and belaying a person out into the river and into a position upstream of the victim. The equivalent technique that could be conceived of, in an incident, such as the one described above would be to position a rescuer "on" the buoy, where the person could "drift" a rope downstream to the tangled victim, and pull the victim up to the buoy, where the lines could be unwrapped or cut. In such a situation, the safest "temporary" location for the victim would be "on" the buoy, itself.
This analogy might be a helpful starting point for a discussion on problems and solutions to the development of a successful method of rescuing a buoy-tangled kiter, without the use of a boat and rescue personnel.
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