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The sailboarder
Posted by: rjd9999
on Jan-15-13 11:19 AM (EST)
The intentions of the sailboarder were unclear, but he could easy have taken the swimmer to shore more quickly and safely than the kayakers could.
Rescue from any third party is contingent on a few things, mainly the ability to recognize there is a danger, followed by the training to plan, execute, and follow up on the rescue should first aid be needed. We can't assume the boarder had the ability to recognize that there was a "problem" no matter how obvious it was to other observers (us).
Even then, without the ability to understand what to do, he'd need to be trained on the spot to execute the rescue. Because of the sail and the need to restart from in the water, while both people try to balance and work the sail, this may be more difficult than I first imagined and not something the boarder could execute cleanly. It could perhaps be done if the rescued individual was laying atop or astride the board, but even that would make it more difficult to balance and perform a rescue.
I've never seen a rescue done with a sailboard, though it looks like it should be possible after a few rather ugly start attempts.
Rick