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Paddling tips, tricks, news and gear reviews from an Unsponsored point of view

Tag: 1st aid

World First Aid Day

8 September 2018 / / 0 Comments

It is World First Aid day, so it seems an appropriate time for the superb Dirty First Aid series.

We all love to kayak, sure. It has some things we love and some we hate. First Aid often becomes the elephant in the room.

When was the last time you or your peers did a course or a workshop? Do you keep ‘up to speed’ on developments?

In this series I am pleased to offer a ‘dirty’ First Aid approach. This is suited to kayakers and river users. Using a ‘find it fix it’ approach to incident care and management.

Dirty First Aid - The Series
World First Aid Day

This first article will lay the foundations of rapid emergency aid. It’s a simple approach that a basic personal First Aid kit and things carried on you can deal with. Now is not the time to discuss what you should or should not carry in your kit. Read the series and make your own mind up.

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Rescue Essentials

26 October 2016 / / 3 Comments

Rescue Essentials – The collection of gear and equipment that you carry to aid in a whitewater rescue is pretty crucial. It is a compromise between having enough gear, space available and the weight it involves.

unsponsored-rescue-essentials-1

My gear shifts, changes and evolves over time but the basic core of gear always remains.

Within my paddling group there will be several variations of this gear, it is important that the group is not reliant on one persons gear as it may be that person or that person’s boat that is in need of assistance. Do you know what emergency gear your paddling buddies carry? Should you?

It is also important that you know how to use the gear effectively. This is particularly the case with those items that carry an element of risk when used, e.g. ropes. If you are not sure book yourself on a good course.

Breakdown Paddle (Splits):

Two piece or four piece. What ever you choose is should fit in your boat and be capable of handling the types of water that you venture onto. For my money I’d go with a four piece Vertical Element or Werner setup (in that order!). My own personal set up is below.

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Dirty First Aid Series – Part 5

2 March 2016 / / 2 Comments

Welcome to Dirty First Aid Series – Part 5 which will focus on Hypothermia.

Paddlers, no matter the discipline or location can all suffer from Hypothermia – a condition brought about due to the lowering of the core body temperature. Its final stage is death. Hypothermia is caused when someone cannot produce enough heat themselves to fight the effects of cold. Immersion in colder water, cold air temperature or exhaustion are the usual suspects. The former is the one that we will look at now – principally because it’s the one that we come across most often as paddlers.

Dirty First Aid Series - Part 5

Immersion hypothermia can mean that the body hasn’t depleated all its energy reserves, meaning the casualty can possibly respond quicker and recover with simple #hacks #dirtywork.

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Dirty First Aid Series – Part 3

7 February 2016 / / 0 Comments

Dirty First Aid – Part 3 now, and it’s not all that down and dirty. It will come trust me on that.

Dirty First Aid - Part 3

We have in the last two pieces looked at a conscious casualty – we didn’t discuss some things, as this series is not an excuse for not taking a course.

Now lets move on to an unconscious casualty.

With an unconscious casualty your priorities are:

1) Open Airway
2) Maintain Blood Circulation
3) To Breath For Them

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Dirty First Aid Series – Part 2

2 February 2016 / / 2 Comments

In this series I am pleased to offer a ‘dirty’ First Aid approach. This is suited to kayakers and river users. Using a ‘find it fix it’ approach to incident care and management.

Dirty First Aid - The Series

In our last article we looked at the Primary Assessment of a casualty. Now we move forward to a secondary assessment – here we deal direct with an injury or medical condition.

We will under take a full head to toe exam. Time to take a SAMPLE and deal with obvious injuries. Lets not rush at it – it needs to be spot on.

S – Signs and symptoms
A – Allergies
M – Medications
P – Previous medical issues
L – Last meal
E – Events

This sample is simple, we find it we fix it.

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Dirty First Aid Series – Part I

22 January 2016 / / 2 Comments

We all love to kayak, sure. It has some things we love and some we hate. First Aid often becomes the elephant in the room.

When was the last time you or your peers did a course or a workshop? Do you keep ‘up to speed’ on developments?

In this series I am pleased to offer a ‘dirty’ First Aid approach. This is suited to kayakers and river users. Using a ‘find it fix it’ approach to incident care and management.

Dirty First Aid - The Series
Dirty First Aid Series – Part I

This first article will lay the foundations of rapid emergency aid. It’s a simple approach that a basic personal First Aid kit and things carried on you can deal with. Now is not the time to discuss what you should or should not carry in your kit. Read the series and make your own mind up.

Continue reading

Dirty First Aid – The Series

21 January 2016 / / 0 Comments

Old man river Darren Clarkson-King (DAZ) will be supplying a series of ‘Dirty First Aid’ articles for Unsponsored. The series of articles will be posted here over the next few months and will centre around first aid for river runners.

Dirty First Aid - The Series

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Adventure Medical Ultralight 0.5 First Aid Kit

21 August 2014 / / 0 Comments

For the last few years I have been using Adventure Medical as my main first aid kits. I stumbled upon them when I was trying to find an ultralight kit for mountain biking. Since then I have purchased several Adventure Medical First Aid Kits and they can be found in my rucksacks and now in my kayak as part of my “When it all goes wrong kit“.

DSC03510

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Adventure Medical 1st Aid Kit

11 February 2014 / / 0 Comments

For the last few years I have been using Adventure Medical as my main first aid kits. I stumbled upon them when I was trying to find an ultralight kit for mountain biking. Since then I have purchased several Adventure Medical First Aid Kits and they can be found in my rucksacks and now in my kayak as part of my “When it all goes wrong kit“.

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When It All Goes Wrong!

30 January 2014 / / 2 Comments

As well as making sure I have all the necessary safety kit (PFD, helmet, throw line, whistle, pin kit) I like to have a range of kit with me that can be used in emergency situations. If a trip were to turn into an epic it is possible that someone may have been injured and/or we could be stuck out in the middle of nowhere.

Therefore my kit centres around three key elements/purposes:

I like to carry a range of kit that will help keep me and/or my paddling buddies warm and offer a little shelter.

If someone gets injured I’d like to go someway to help patch him or her up.

I’d like to ensure that morale stays high.

I have to weigh all of these needs against what is practically possible and the weight I can actually carry in my boat. Regardless this kit needs to be carried in my boat or on my person and needs to be kept dry. I am currently using an Exped Cloudburst dry sack for the bulk of the emergency kit that I carry. It is based around a traditional roll top dry bag but it has straps so that it can be used as a rucksack. It has a volume of 15 litres which means it is big enough to hold the essentials but will still fit in the back of my Liquid Logic Stomper.

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When It All Goes Wrong

6 October 2013 / / 11 Comments

As well as making sure I have all the necessary safety kit (PFD, helmet, throw line, whistle, pin kit) I like to have a range of kit with me that can be used in emergency situations. If a trip were to turn into an epic it is possible that someone may have been injured and/or we could be stuck out in the middle of nowhere.

Therefore my kit centres around three key elements/purposes:

I like to carry a range of kit that will help keep me and/or my paddling buddies warm and offer a little shelter.
If someone gets injured I’d like to go someway to help patch him or her up.
I’d like to ensure that morale stays high.

I have to weigh all of these needs against what is practically possible and the weight I can actually carry in my boat. Regardless this kit needs to be carried in my boat or on my person and needs to be kept dry. I am currently using an Exped Cloudburst dry sack for the bulk of the emergency kit that I carry. It is based around a traditional roll top dry bag but it has straps so that it can be used as a rucksack. It has a volume of 15 litres which means it is big enough to hold the essentials but will still fit in the back of my Liquid Logic Stomper.

Continue reading

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