SeaDoo rescue sled inspired by Kai Lenny

I’ve watched Kai Lenny and other big wave watermen and women windsurfing in gnarly waves at Ho’okipa Maui at the Aloha Classics I’ve participated in. I was always impressed by the watercraft that come and rescue people in the white water. They have become even more important with big waves like Pe’ahi (Jaws) and Nazaré. I was excited when I heard that Kai became a Sea-Doo brand ambassador last year. I’ve been a Skidoo /BRP guy for 40+years.

We don’t get waves anywhere like that and there’s no real danger here in the windy corner of Georgia Bay. But it is nice to be able to tow a student upwind if they’ve missed a couple of tacks or jibes during a lesson. Most of the time I have a line on the front of the board to tow them up wind. Some boards like wingfoil boards don’t have an attachment point so the student winds up having to hold onto a rope off my stern. That has its own problems: it is hard on the hands, it can cause rope burns, or the line can get caught in the impeller.

A low-cost solution for a rescue sled was to take an old Skidoo winter toboggan and add a LINQ attachment to it. It was a quick project using a couple of plastic toilet bolts.

I’m ready to use it later this summer and will add some photos to the blog post when that happens.

July 23rd update. I used the sled for the first time on my lesson with Michael. It worked really well!

Let me know what you think.