Best way to stand up in the shallow?

[THURSOMAN]

Hello to you all, how's it going?
Here's one for you.
I was watching someone kayaking in the shallows the other day and he fell in. Initially I had a but of a chuckle to myself thinking how often I had done that myself when starting off. However, it appeared he was struggling to get up. He was wearing a flotation suit and was floating no problem, but he was on his back panicking. I ran in the water and kept telling him just to try and get on his feet, assuring him it was shallow there. Man it took him some time to finally do it!
To be honest I was getting worried for a while there.
The question is: what is the best instruction to give for someone in this situation? Clearly simply telling someone to stand up is not much help if that is what they are already trying to do.
Is it best to get them to try and get on their knees if it's that shallow? I think perhaps the reason he was strugging so much is he was trying to stay on his back to get up.
Any input would be brilliant as I'd like to know what to do if something like this ever happened again.
Thanks, Chris

[kayakadventures]

Do you mean a dry suit or flotation suit?

If it is a flotation suit then standing up is likely to be hard as it is designed to float you. Even a dry suit if there is a lot of air in it can make standing hard so always vent out the air by crouching down and expel the air via the neck seal.

Try to get him to roll over or grab the kayak and then turn so he can pull himself onto the kayak.

I've found that dry suits and pfds do make it hard to move about when in the water. Even holding the sot and swimming back to shore is far harder work than most realize.

[THURSOMAN]

Very sorry, only just realised you replied to me.
Yes it was a flotation suit.
Thanks for the input there.
Personally I have no problem standing up etc when I used to wear a flotation suit but this chap was really struggling. He was a hefty guy too and not sure if this would have a bearing?

Chris

[SEAJUNKY]

Hi kayakadventures

In the light of what you have said in relation to trying to move about when wearing a pfd, do you think it would be better if you were wearing an gas inflatable life jacket? as un-inflated it would not give any buoyancy and make standing easier.

Steve