i'll preface this with, i'm a canoeist, OC2 mostly, and new[er] to the sea kayak scene, and i am answering this as a sea kayaker, not whitewater. mz On Tue, 24 Mar 1998, Rich Kulawiec wrote: >> >>On Tue, Mar 24, 1998 at 08:33:08AM -0900, David Seng wrote: >>> >Nothing. Hold onto the paddle if you think you're going to need it. >>> >(The *last* thing I want is any kind of rope or line attached to me.) >>> >>> I agree if you're talking about whitewater paddling, but there have been >>> times when sea-kayaking that I have thought that it would be handy to >>> have a paddle leash tethered _to the kayak_ (not to me!). >> >>Okay, I'm confused here. It seems to me that as a whitewater paddler, >>I stand a much better chance of having the paddle ripped out of my hands >>than a sea kayaker -- in fact, I *have* had the paddle ripped out of >>my hands, which is why I work on my hands roll fairly often. ;-) >> >>Now being upside-down sans paddle in big whitewater is not at the top >>of my list of Fun Things To Do (most of those involve Sigourney Weaver >>and Chadd's Ford Cabernet Franc '95, but I digress) but it has occured >>to me that maybe, just *maybe*, that I was better off surrendering >>my paddle to Mr. Bubbly than hanging onto it and having one or both >>shoulders architecturally rearranged by the river. So my puzzlement >>leads to this question: if you are in water conditions so severe >>that your paddle is torn from your grasp, do you *really* *REALLY* want >>to be leashed to that paddle? NO, i would only attach the paddle to the boat. i would expect that conditions encountered on water would be such that a person is flipped over, and _not_ that the paddle is wrenched from their hands, hence they have their paddle already... >> >>And to this one: under those conditions, does it do you any good to >>have it leashed to the boat? yes, if you seperate from your boat, you can hold onto either one, and have the other nearby. ... hmmm, let's try again, if you flip over and wet exit, as long as you hold onto one or the other, you have the second one nearby... that's better ;-) >> >>Maybe I'm missing something fundamental here (could be; I get hit in >>the head fairly often and that's got to be having a cumulative effect) >>but I have seen these leashes, held these leashes, admired the construction >>of these leashes and can't figure out what the heck good they do. >> >>---Rsk when i bought my first sea kayak, i was given a leash. i hooked it to my PFD and the paddle, "now i won't lose it" --- i was playing on a local lake, and intentionally turned over, and bailed out. still had my paddle ;-) but the boat was blown away [luckily towards shore]. coming from a whitewater canoe background, i have a big sharp knife on my PFD, so if i thought i was getting tangled, i'd cut something ;-) the leash i use is about 3+ feet [1m] of bungie cord. if i'm whietwater paddling in my sea kayak, i'd not use the leash [remember, in an OC1/2, nothing should hang below the gunwales when the boat is inverted, i know _you_ know this rich, but i want to stress it to others who might not know]. when i'm SKing on a flat lake, i don't generally use the leash, although it has come in handy, when i throw the paddle away, and grab the camera!! when i'm out in "fun" conditions, i attach the leash. did i help or obfuscate? mark #------canoeist[at]netbox[dot]com-------------------------------------- mark zen o, o__ o_/| o_. po box 474 </ [\/ [\_| [\_\ ft. lupton, co 80621-0474 (`-/-------/----') (`----|-------\-') #~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_at_~~~~~~~_at_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_at_~~~~~~~~_at_~~~~~ http://www.diac.com/~zen/cpr [Colorado Paddlers' Resource] http://www.diac.com/~zen/rmskc [Rocky Mtn Sea Kayak Club] http://www.diac.com/~zen/rmcc [Rocky Mtn Canoe Club Trip Page] http://www.diac.com/~zen/mark [personal] -- Fortune: The goal of science is to build better mousetraps. The goal of nature is to build better mice. *************************************************************************** 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 - 12:57:16 PST
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