Knives and Trot lines

We have all heard the recommendation that while we are paddling we should have a knife handy, preferably attached to the outside of our PFD. But why? Having a boat, a paddle, PFD, throw bag, and water jug. These are all kind of common sense necessaries to take for an enjoyable paddle.

What is up with needing a knife?

It turns out that people around the water tend to use lots of ropes, straps and lines that can catch and entangle, and maim or drown an unlucky paddler. It is especially important and beneficial to have a knife handy to cut those ropes, straps and lines loose before they cause a catastrophe.

Lately, we have seen videos of boaters cutting netting or fishing lines that have entangled whales, sharks, and turtles, too.

   

 

Last year I was paddling on a club trip when an almost invisible trot line snagged on my boat and a largish treble hook slung around my bow and caught on the backpack I had lashed to the front deck. The current was pretty swift that day, and my boat was caught by the hook and swung around facing upstream while I grabbed for the knife I had attached to my PFD.

I was also thinking that if my pack had not been there to catch it first, the treble hook would have been able to slide across my belly, or my PFD, or my neck, turning an otherwise enjoyable paddle into a much more dire event. As it was, a few short seconds later my handy knife was able to cut the line and let me be on my way. It took a pair of long-nosed pliers to disentangle the treble hook from the pack later.

As with most safety equipment, such as the throw bag, I have rarely used my safety knife. I don’t use it for cooking, or whittling, or most normal “knife-type” uses. It is there, hanging off my PFD, for emergency use, and in this instance, it was exactly in the right place at the right time.

You can argue whether it should be a folding lock-blade, or a fixed blade in a sheath. Many people do. I carry a folding lock-blade, and the couple of seconds it took me to open it in this case didn’t matter. I know some people that would argue the point. I think in this case the most important thing is that I carry it hanging on the outside of my PFD, and was able to put my hand on it within a tenth of a second of realizing I needed it. The second it took to open it was minuscule compared to the time it would have taken to search for it if it was in a pocket. 

Some people claim that if you use a sheath knife, it should be double bladed. I’m not too sure I would want to use such a knife to cut close to my skin to cut off a line or net that had entangled my leg or something. 

In any case, having ANY KNIFE in a situation where you might need it, is way better than not having a knife if you or your boat gets caught in some fishing line or netting that happens to be hanging in the water. And what are the chances that something like that might happen? Well, if you do much paddling, a lot, actually.

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The author, Harmon Everett