[Paddlewise] ww learning curve

For folks who are beginner or intermediate ww paddlers, I post this each
spring.



Technojunkies Beware
by Richard Culpeper


When I began running rapids wood and canvas canoes were the norm.  We
knew that our boats were delicate, so swimming, or even crunching,
simply was not an option.  Did this restrict us?  Not at all.  My old
Chestnut has happily danced through the Petawawa's flooded Rollway and
surfed the hole at the bottom of the Ottawa's McCoy's.  It is two or
three times my age, and almost as heavy, but still going strong.  Folks
quite often ask me if I'm worried about breaking my boat, and yes, I am,
but I'm far more concerned about breaking my body.  If I keep my boat
out of trouble, I keep myself out of trouble.

Plastic canoes and kayaks, helmets, dry suits and wet suits,
impact-resistant PFDs, knives, throw ropes, whistles:  individually,
they will make it possible for you to either run more challenging wild
water or to be rescued when you mess up, so they are extremely
important; collectively, they might give you a false sense of security.
Remember, your body is now the weakest link in the chain.

It used to be that you could not simply purchase a boat, immediately put
in to serious water, and hope to return home with more than a bundle of
kindling tied together with strips of #10 cotton.  It took a few years
of experience before you would venture beyond class III.  Times have
changed.

My novice kayak students run class III on their first full day-trip, and
class IV by the end of their first season.  The technique is easy enough
to learn, and the equipment is superb, but I wonder:  do these new
paddlers truly understand the forces with which they are playing.  I
doubt it.

They do not realize how quickly a run can go sour.  The horror of
dragging or pinning are only abstract constructs.  The insidious nature
of hypothermia is just something from a book.  As an instructor, the
hardest part of my job isn't teaching technique, it's conveying the
absolute necessity of conservative judgement and teamwork.

When you go out this season, please keep safety at the front of your
mind.  Think through the possible ramifications of your actions, and
communicate and work closely with others on your paddling team.  You
will live or die by your decisions, so don't be led down the rock garden
path by the durability of your equipment.  Remember, a plastic closed
canoe has run Niagara Falls successfully, it's just the paddler who
didn't survive.




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