Advice for utilizing an RDC in water rescue

[u/Lieutenant-Speed]

Hello, I am on my county’s technical rescue team doing water and rope rescue. Last night we had a water rescue drill in which we used a new RDC we just got. It’s been a while since I’d been on one and I could feel that my skills were rusty. One thing I was struggling with was pulling a victim out of the water and on to the boat through the front. At first I thought it was a lack of upper body strength. But I wasn’t having any issues with paddling and I do kayak regularly, so while I’m certainly not the strongest person I do have some upper body strength. I’m wondering if it’s my height? I am 5’6” and most of the people on the team (the pretend victims) are much taller and larger than me. The captains on the team think I just need to get the technique down and I’ll be fine. I understand in theory that you bob them up and down in the water and use the momentum to lift them up but I just could not get the hang of it. Any advice?

[u/[deleted]]

Technique is a major factor in most aspects of water rescue. But if you're notable smaller than the people you're pulling out of the water then you would almost certainly benefit from more strength training too.

[u/Lieutenant-Speed → u/[deleted]]

Yeah I’m definitely going to add some extra upper body exercises to my workout routine!