What to do if your kayak capsizes: wet exit and re-entry

What should you do when your kayak flips? Stay calm, get out if you are in a sit-inside boat, and stay with the kayak. A capsized kayak is much easier for other boats to spot than a head in the water, and it floats.

This guide describes the standard techniques. Learn them from a qualified instructor in calm water before you need them. Reading is not practice.

How do you do a wet exit?

A wet exit is how you leave a sit-inside kayak upside down.

1. Hold your breath and stay calm. You will be upside down for a few seconds.
2. Lean forward and tap the hull with both hands, which also helps you find your bearings.
3. Release the spray skirt by pulling the grab loop forward and up.
4. Push the skirt off your knees, then push yourself out of the cockpit.
5. Surface and hold on to the kayak and your paddle.

Practise it in warm, shallow water with a coach nearby until it is boring.

Why stay with the boat?

The kayak is your float and your marker. Swimming away from it in cold or open water uses energy and makes you harder to see. Stay with it unless you are very close to shore in calm conditions.

How do you get back in?

The method depends on your boat and your skills.

• T-rescue, with a partner. A second paddler holds your kayak steady across their bow while you climb in. It is the easiest assisted method.
• Paddle float re-entry, solo. Fit a paddle float to one blade, set the paddle across the rear deck like an outrigger, and use it for support while you get onto the back of the boat and slide into the cockpit. Keep the float stowed where you can reach it from the water.
• Scramble re-entry. With no extra equipment, you flip the boat upright, then pull yourself across the rear deck and swing your legs into the cockpit.
• Roll. If you have a reliable roll, you can come back up without leaving the boat at all.

Sit-on-top kayaks are simpler. They drain on their own, so after a fall you swim to the boat, flip it if needed and climb back on from the side or the rear.

What should you do after you are back in?

Pump or bail out the water, because a flooded cockpit makes the boat unstable. Then check how cold and tired you are. If either is bad, head to shore now and do not carry on.

How do you prepare so it does not matter?

• Wear a buoyancy aid, always.
• Dress for the water temperature. Cold water saps strength far quicker than most people expect.
• Carry a bilge pump, a paddle float and a whistle, and a way to call for help.
• Tell someone your route and when you will be back.
• Paddle with others when you can.

For tracking your route and letting people follow your position, see our watersports safety apps guide and the wearable setup guide.