(Larry takes out his SWR hat and puts it on)

I can think of no reason to ever use a knife to get a spray skirt off the cockpit. After the accident mentioned above, the SWR community took a long and hard look at this and quickly figured out that it was entirely unnessecary to cut the sprayskirt.
While I will point out that it's not as easy as Wes stated to peel one of the front, especially the aramid/kevlar rand skirts when it's a little cold, I have yet to see a skirt that didn't have enough slack at the hip or just behind it to grab a hand full and pull it off. We demonstrate that technique in the classes I've taught. Additionally, with the large keyhole cockpit sizes of most new boats, you can generally just pull the victim straight out of the boat. You can avoid all of this by making sure your grabloop isn't tucked under.

One final note. Sprayskirts can become an entrapment hazard when you are out of the boat, which is one of the reasons why I recommend carrying a knife that you can access quickly and open with one hand.

Knives. I have friends that carry all kind of devices, from the little Bear Claw hook, to parachute shroud cutter and trauma shears. IMO, when you need a knife, all of the previous are poor substitutes. My personal river knife is a Spyderco Rescue Jr in a River City Shealth. This knife is very similar to the Pilot with the sheepsfoot style blade. The River City Shealth allows you to lash it to any of the tabs on your PFD, but still allows access with one hand. SWR is notorious for losing knives, but I've used this setup for a number of years now and it's rock solid. River City with custom a sheath to whatever knife you want, well worth it IMO.

Emergency Bivy verses a "Space" blanket. I just think the blankets are more versatile. If you have an unconcious buddy, it's damn hard to get them into a bivy, but it's simple to wrap the blanket around them. You can also share the blanket with your buddy if you are both cold or out for the night. OTOH, I carry a Thermolite bivy sack in my day pack when I hike along with the emergency blanket. The little mylar ones don't take a lot of room, so carrying both is certainly an option.

"Wilderness Runs". If it isn't roadside, it has the potential of being a wilderness run.
My first experience with a dislocation was at Johnny's Rock on the Russell Fork and it took us about two and half hours before we got the victim out were we could get him to definitive care, and he was ambulatory. There has been at least two cases of inexperienced boaters getting in trouble running Jett to Lilly on Clear Creek and having to spend the night, that run isn't even three miles long. There are a number of winter time runs that would be difficult to walk out of in a timely manner if something goes wrong, the Gauley, BSF, almost any of the Emory Obed runs, Red River, etc, etc. Short days and cold temperatures make a lot of difference. Get involved in a prolonged rescue at Double Falls on the BSF this time of year and you could easily be trying to run Asskicker in the dark.

Getting back down off my soapbox again.

Larry

Larry Cable