It occurred to me that combining the paddlers in the club we probably have a wealth of experience and wisdom from which to make out a template rescue guideline for many rivers teh club runs, which would be a very useful thing.
Instructors don't always present a plan for all rescue paddlers and it is a common occurrence that newer rescue are less sure of where to go/what to do and older rescue fire away, but by sharing the information older rescue use to choose their positions hopefully younger rescue will have all the same advantages!
Bearing in mind that rescue development is a serious goal for the remaining river trips this year I thought I'd start a thread on rescue on the Liffey.
Here's everything I think of on Liffey trips, made up of tips or instructions that instructors or experienced paddlers have mentioned to me/near me or alternative rescue formations that occurred to me after seeing various swims or rescues in my four years in the club. This is by no means exhaustive and if anyone else has points to add, please do.
This is a thread intended to help rescue and rescue development which is 100% accomplishable WITHOUT THE USE OF HORROR STORIES.
Sluice
Rescue in eddies on either side of the sluice, no point being really high up - if someone capsizes it'll be after the wave, so you'll need to be lower to have time to break out and get to them.
If you miss barging/guiding in to an eddy on the left/right before the sluice channel rejoins the main flow, the next eddy is on river right across the flow. The bank is easily accessible here and swimmers can get out to run around/warm up or just have an easy re-entry.
If you're buddied with someone who's running sluice you could consider following them down the feature so that you have the option of speeding up to catch them and t-rescue/rescue.
Sluice weir
Again, no point being too high up, be below where someone could capsize and protect swimmers/paddlers from drifting right (where there are trees).
There is a concrete shelf on river right which is relatively easy to climb up on, however in fast flow it is less accessible (ie by the time someone has had a swim they'll be downstream of it).
There is an eddy river right of the weir channel where rescue can wait.
Lucan weir
One rescue in the large eddie on river left is good, some paddlers tripped on the eddieline and having someone close to get a quick t-rescue in is good.
Apart from that rescue is more useful on river right so that they'll have lateral momentum when approaching a boat/swimmer they'll be barging/towing to the eddie on river left.
Boats/gear that are not recovered in the large eddy (river left, before the bridge) are difficult to barge since the left bank is quite densely covered in trees until 150m downstream where there is a large wall on the rigth and a decent eddy on the left.
From this position line of sight can be kept with someone in the bottom of the large eddy (river left below the weir) but not with the weir itself, so someone must adjust their position.
There is no easy walk around for a swimmer from the left bank to the lower eddy, the rigth bank is more passable, but does involve climbing a fence, which could be an issue.
If boats or gear get past the first rescue eddie the group will be split as they are retrieved which reduces rescue at the feature and makes it very difficult for them to rejoin the main group (in high flow paddling upstream on that section is very challenging) so this should be avoided if at all possible.
Analiffey/Shackleton's
Putting one person in the large eddy on river left (at the base of the building) lets paddlers know where they've to gather, as the eddies on river right at the bottom of the weir are more difficult to break in/out of.
Capsizes are most likely at the bottom of the weir or on the slghtly rougher water just after, so rescue is needed at the bottom of the weir, however if that rescue needs to act it is unlikely that they'll be able to resume their position at the bottom of the weir, so surplus rescue needs to be kept above the weir and dropped down as needed.
One person is needed to indicate where the runnable channel on the weir is (eg with the nose of their boat) so that approaching paddlers line up with the wall correctly. In significant flow it is even more important that this guiding rescue maintains position as inexperienced paddlers will have little time to correct a misguided approach.
This rescue position is important in the line of sight through the feature and needs to relay clear signals.
Wren's nest
Assuming high flow it is likely that the majority of the group will descend the weir on river left and will be aiming to regroup in the eddy on river left.
Due to the shape of the weir the flow at the bottom is irregular and there are many eddy lines and directions of flow which can present a challenge to less experienced paddlers.
The large eddy on river right is the best place from which to approach a rescue: you can break in to the flow fast, get to the paddler/swimmer fast and have lots of lateral momentum to help tow/barge in to the large eddy on the left.
Somebody is needed at the bottom of the river left eddy to help grab gear/swimmers.
Waiting in the top of the eddy on river left sees no action.
