HudsonSB wrote: > > Hi all- > No one was around saturday, so I put in at Dobbs & went down to yonkers & > back. > river a plate of glass, but a very high tide. Looked 2 foot above normal. > > Anyway when I was getting back, i saw 2 kayaks on the beach. when i went to > investigate, it was Don & Frank. Don has paddled a bunch before, Frank his > second time out. Well, neither guy had any thermal protection, but had pfd's. > But Don was taking his 4-year old son with him. He took off his rear hatch > cover and wedged his son in there. His son had a pfd. > > I saw this, & thought if Don has a capsize, which is improbable with the > benign conditions and Don's experience, then Don & probably his son will die > because they weren't prepared for the water temp and the only person there > that could effect a rescue had only 90 minutes experiences in a kayak. > Besides, if the rear hatch filled with water, the boat would probably sink. > Frank just might not know how to deal with this. > > Well, I asked if I could hang with them and stayed real close just in case of > a problem. Fortunately, all went well and we had a good time. > > Okay... > What's wrong with this picture? > What responsibility did I have? > What would you have done? > > I didn't read Dave the riot act, but I hope he got the message. > > Jack I think that this spring has the potential in the Northeast for being a kayaker killer. We have had a real warm winter and the spring is likely to come sooner than normal. The water will still be deadly cold but the air warm and the water benign. (It was around 40-42 F yesterday on the Hudson in NYC with air temperature in the high 50s.) People will be lured out as those above without cold-water protection and to do something as foolish as the kid-in-the-hatch act. I can't imagine what would have happened to those people if the man and child had gone over. As you point out, the fellow in the other kayak would have had little chance to be able to do a rescue. Moreover, it is possible that he would have felt vulnerable himself and hesitated to come in close to the people in the water fearing he would also go into the drink if someone tried to climb on his boat, which they might have done to escape horribly painful cold water. If the HRWA has enough money in the kitty, I thing we should give the two paddlers scholarships to the $45 Cold Water Workshop being run by Atlantic Kayak Tours, Inc. (914-246-2187), at the Small Boat Shop (203-854-5223) in South Norwalk, CT on March 21st (10am-4pm). Our own Craig Poole is speaking there. There will be an opportunity on a controlled basis for people to see how various cold water clothing feels in the cold water off one of the docks. Those two individuals might be encouraged to take a dip in what they were wearing yesterday. It might be a convincing revelation! ralph diaz -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Ralph Diaz . . . Folding Kayaker newsletter PO Box 0754, New York, NY 10024 Tel: 212-724-5069; E-mail: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com "Where's your sea kayak?"----"It's in the bag." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
My first reaction to this was a bit mild. But reading what Joq Martin and Sean Coffey rightfully added, I got mad. Since a kid was involved, I think Jack should have let Don set up his kid in the back hatch and just as he started paddling away, tipped their boat. They would have learned pretty instantly just how dangerous the idea of paddling that way would have been. The water there at the Dobbs Ferry NY launch is shallow and even the kid could have walked to shore. They would have been too wet and cold to go paddling. And I doubt that Don had even a dry change of clothes. Don would have been real pissed at Jack for doing this or he might have realized the folly of what he was planning to do to himself and 4 year old kid. Whether he would be pissed at Jack or thankful does not matter. The father and son would be safe. Now Don might have chased after Jack with his paddle or not catching Jack may have decided to break his car mirror or something. But tipping their boat at the edge of the beach would have been the right thing to do. Oh, yes, after first telling Don that it would be a mistake to go out in those conditions with the kid-in-the-hatch routine without clothing to protect against possible emergence in 40 degree water. ralph diaz -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Ralph Diaz . . . Folding Kayaker newsletter PO Box 0754, New York, NY 10024 Tel: 212-724-5069; E-mail: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com "Where's your sea kayak?"----"It's in the bag." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
Ralph wrote; (SNIP) > >Since a kid was involved, I think Jack should have let Don set up his >kid in the back hatch and just as he started paddling away, tipped their >boat. They would have learned pretty instantly just how dangerous the >idea of paddling that way would have been. The water there at the Dobbs >Ferry NY launch is shallow and even the kid could have walked to shore. > I have always wondered what would happen if you did this. Have few enough friends as it is so never tried it. :-} I think I would have been pretty forceful in protesting though. It is one thing to risk your own life. Quite another to risk the life of some one else. John Winters Redwing Designs Specialists in Human Powered Watercraft http://home.ican.net/~735769/ *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
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