Re: [Paddlewise] Knives

> 3.   I don't want to look cool!  I've never been comfortable with the
> prospect of attaching an intimidating looking knife to the lash tab of my
> PDF because that is not the image that I want to project.

I don't necessarily want to project that image either, but there *are*
times when it is helpful.  Example: paddling the Brandywine one spring
day a few years ago when four guys in two canoes decided to throw their
empty beer cans in the river.  I collected them all and "returned" them.
I rather suspect that the sight of someone with a large knife prominently
displayed on his PFD assisted them in gracefully agreeing to take their
trash downriver and home with them. ;-)

and:

> Oh, lastly I didn't always carry a knife.  I also thought it looked
> silly Rambo.  But one day I was listening at a boat show to a New Jersey
> paddler who I respect a lot.  He had a knife on his PFD, something he
> had not had before.  He then explained how one day he had gotten
> entangled with something on his boat and almost drowned [...]

Luckily, I haven't had that experience.  But I carry a throwbag, therefore
I carry a knife...because if I have to use that throwbag, I may also have
to cut the line *right now*.  So to me the two items go hand-in-hand,
and I am very reluctant to use any throwbag unless I am within arm's
reach of a sharp edge.  (BTW, I also keep 3-4 carabiners in the top of
the throwbag and one attached to the lash tab to 'biner it into the back
of my boat.  That's not enough hardware to do a Z-drag, but it's enough
to handle nearly all rescues, and combined with a second similar setup,
it's enough for almost anything.)

---Rsk
Rich Kulawiec
rsk_at_gsp.org

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