Hi Tim, My own thoughts on why a tether from paddle to boat rather than paddle to paddler. I'm sure others will have different ideas. As long as you can develop the reflex of holding on to your paddle while wet exiting, and as long as the paddle is leashed to the boat, if you have the paddle, you have the boat. There's even a little shock absorption in this system: Should the boat get slammed by a huge wave you can let the paddle shaft run through your fingers or in extreme circumstances, let go altogether. If on the other hand (so to speak) the paddle is tethered to you, during a wet exit you are using one hand to pop the skirt, and one hand to hold on to the boat so you won't lose it while coming to the surface. The paddle on its leash is spinning around you unpredictably. Should the cockpit rim be torqued out of your hand as you surface, you must now chase your boat while hampered by your paddle. (There is a technique for "swimming with your paddle" basically holding it in front of your body and paddling with it, but having tried it, it's much slower that normal swimming with a PFD). Basically it boils down to the boat and the paddle are not much use without one another. There's little point in "saving" the paddle unless you have the boat as well. Hope this is food for thought. Philip Torrens At 10:35 AM 3/24/98 -0800, you wrote: > >I am confused. Why would I tether the paddle to >the boat rather than to me? I can see how a >short lesh between my wrist and the paddle would >work, but I can't see why a longer (i.e. more >tangle-prone) tether to the boat would be better. > >Remember, I would have a quick release mechanism of >some kind on the tether. Also, I already have a knife >on my PFD (it looks cool). So in an emergency I could >get the tether off. With a connection to the boat, though, >I worry that the longer tether might get in the way >of a roll or some extreme bracing. > >-- Tim > >*************************************************************************** >PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List >Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net >Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net >Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ >*************************************************************************** > **************************************** Mountain Equipment Co-op 1655 West 3rd Avenue, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6J 1K1 Tel: 640-732-1989 Fax: 604-731-6483 email: pid_at_mec.ca Visit our website at: http://www.mec.ca ***************************************** *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************Received on Tue Mar 24 1998 - 11:58:20 PST
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