SWR This Past Weekend

[Renee H]

Big thanks to Billy Williams and Ray Skinner for putting on their first SWR class. They did a wonderful job and I know we all learned a lot. Also, thanks to the volunteers who sacrificed paddling trips to come help us out: Shannon Parsons, Katie Williams, Scott Roach, Randy Dodson, Cowper and Jeremy Mackey. It was a great weekend!

[Don Harwood]

[goldenbrownchica]

oh my God.. I had a blast.. I was kinda out of my element what with all the swimming.. but I adapted and that was the whole point of the class.. rope throwing skillz.. not so good.. saving people and being saved.. I did alright.. trying to ferry across as a swimmer.. not so good.. I gotta work on my angles.. defensive swimming and agressive swimming.. not bad.. going over the strainer.. check!! crawling along the slippery rocks instead of busting my bottom on them trying to stand up.. check!! eating pizza.. check!! getting eaten alive by mosquitos Saturday night.. check plus!! I am not kidding.. I think I lost about 10 liters of blood.. maybe that is why I felt so weak.. I stopped counting my total number of mosquito bites after I reached 40.. what in the hell?? legs, arms, shoulders, back.. they got me.. I must be sweet nectar to your AR skeeters.. and then they were even in my car when I left.. but I did not transport them back to TX!!

[goldenbrownchica]

my favorite part was working on the knots.. and figuring out the physics behind setting up the pulley systems and the psi of the water and how it affects a swimmer as they are pendulmed (not really a word) back towards the bank.. and then the vector point.. and how exerting force on 1 part of the rope decreases the total weight limit of said rope.. its crazy stuff I tell you!! the volunteers were all amazing... as were the instructors.. I hope I didn't ask too many questions.. like.. "why is this rope called prussick?? and why is it different from other rope.. cuz it all looks like rope to me".. then I wanted to know why something was called a "kiwi".. hitch?? a kiwi something or other.. "is it from Australia?".. then I was corrected.. New Zealand.. hey.. I was close.. and, "who is munter?".. I think I embarrassed Renee.. well worth it if you ask me!!.. I was pretty good at the knots.. they came out so pretty.. just so y'all know.. the daisy chain.. is just like crochet.. a single loop.. got the water knot down.. first thing in the morning at work.. impressed my friends with my figure 8 knots.. I don't really think they were all that impressed.. more tolerant than anything else.. then last night I was working on a costume.. and I used my figure 8 knots to prevent my beads from falling off!! SWEET!!

here is another question.. for Cowper.. he tolerated them the best.. isn't
the figure 8 knot the same as the Flemish knot??

[goldenbrownchica]

The Munter hitch, also known as the Italian hitch, is a simple knot, commonly used by climbers and cavers as part of a life-lining or belay system. To climbers, this knot is also known as HMS, the abbreviation for the German term Halbmastwurfsicherung, meaning 'half mast hitch belay.' Therefore, carabiners used for this belaying technique are called HMS carabiners, however the technique can be used with any locking carabiner wide enough to take two turns of the rope. The name 'Munter hitch' is due to a Swiss mountain guide, Werner Munter, who popularised its use in mountaineering.

thanks wikepedia!!

[goldenbrownchica]

A Prusik is a friction hitch or knot used to put a loop of cord around a rope, applied in climbing, canyoneering, mountaineering, caving, rope rescue, and by arborists. The term Prusik is a name for both the loops of cord and the hitch, and is the verb to prusik. More casually, the term is used for any friction hitch that can grab a rope. The word is often misspelled as Prussik or prussic, because of its similarity to the term prussic acid.

The Prusik hitch is named for its inventor, Austrian mountaineer Dr. Karl Prusik. It was shown in a 1931 Austrian mountaineering manual for rope ascending. It was used on several mountaineering routes of the era to ascend the final summit peak, where a rope could be thrown over the top and anchored so that climbers could attain the summit by prusiking up the other side of the rope.

A prusik does little or no damage to the rope it is attached to. Care should be taken to learn from a skilled instructor if a climber plans to use this or any other knot in a situation where failure could cause property damage, injury, or death.

thanks again, wikepedia!!

[RomanLA]

We covered a lot of that stuff in raft guide school. I still can't wait to take the SWR class though. I'm getting on the rope rescue team at work, so my knot tying should be pretty good by then.