This thread on rescuing others is interesting. It is certainly incumbent on anyone capable of rescuing a fellow paddler to do so. The word to emphasize here, though, is 'capable'. The idea one not unduly put ones own life in danger during a rescue attempt is a basic tenant of safety. This does not excuse someone from failing to give assistance when and where possible, nor does it mean, of course, that you would simply abandon such a person and just go on your merry way. In reality it would be most likely that you would do all within your power and might indeed put yourself in mortal danger in order to help a friend. The point, though, is that the rescuer has the option on whether or not to rescue you and you do not want to put yourself in such a situation. It is often forgotten that each paddler is ultimately responsible for his/her own safety. Too often paddlers, in calculating their margin of safety, depend on their paddling partners, other boaters or the authorities to extricate them from danger. [I'm feeling the urge to wax philisophic.] We live in a society where we have, in many ways, come to feel as though we will be taken care of. When I am teaching leadership/followership in relation to sea-kayaking I like to stress just how small ones world gets when things get bad. It is self preservation that often takes over in emergency situations and, as a result, you might well find yourself alone, even in the midst of others. Paddling in a group can increase your margin of safety, but it is prudent to not depend on it. Once again things come down to judgement and skills. John Winskill *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
John C. Winskill wrote: > (SNIP) > It is often forgotten that each paddler is ultimately responsible for > his/her own safety. Too often paddlers, in calculating their margin of > safety, depend on their paddling partners, other boaters or the > authorities to extricate them from danger. [I'm feeling the urge to wax > philisophic.] We live in a society where we have, in many ways, come to > feel as though we will be taken care of. When I am teaching > leadership/followership in relation to sea-kayaking I like to stress > just how small ones world gets when things get bad. It is self > preservation that often takes over in emergency situations and, as a > result, you might well find yourself alone, even in the midst of others. > Paddling in a group can increase your margin of safety, but it is > prudent to not depend on it. Once again things come down to judgement > and skills. > John Winskill > I also have been reading this with a great deal of interest. I have only been a member of this list for a short while, so have been relunctant to say anything until now. I couldn't agree more with what John said about us living society where we think its someones else job to take care of us! I believe all the talk about cell phones and VHF radios just highlight it. I believe if each time we planned a trip, or each part of the trip, and pretended that we were COMPLETELY alone in the world. Meaning that no one would come bail us out, then decisions would be made differantly a great deal of the time. I paddle almost all the time solo and altho I am a HAM and carry a radio with me on all my trips, it is just for chatting with the wife or friends at night if we "can" make contact. We BOTH understand that if I make a bad enough judgement that I will be the only one that will have to "undo" it if possible. That keeps me thinking ahead most of the time on "what if" senerioes. While homesteading in the bush of Alaska, I learned that when you know that you are truley resposable for your own actions and only by making the right choice, will mean the differance between life or death. You REALLY do learn to think it out with out wondering if the "cell battery" is charged! Hope that made some sence!? James Lofton now in New Mexico *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
James Lofton wrote: > I also have been reading this with a great deal of interest. I have only > been a member of this list for a short while, so have been relunctant to > say anything until now. > I couldn't agree more with what John said about us living in a society where > we think its someone else's job to take care of us! I believe all the talk > about cell phones and VHF radios just highlight it. > I believe if each time we planned a trip, or each part of the trip, and > pretended that we were COMPLETELY alone in the world. Meaning that no one > would come bail us out, then decisions would be made differantly a great > deal of the time. I agree with the thrust of your remarks. However, I suspect that carrying (and monitoring) a VHF involves more than just "expecting someone to help me when I need it." The VHF extends our umbrella of community to embrace others who might need help from US. It's kind of like the stuff we should do in our neighborhoods to look out for the neighbor kids, spot open doors at night, and monitor suspicious characters. In other words, in remote areas the VHF is sort of a marine version of Neighborhood Watch, as well as something to use to summon help if we need it. After all, stuff happens! OTOH, a cell phone only helps you to reach out, and does not help other boaters, directly. Out here, the USCG does not think much of cell phones. Although they are great devices for sending out the alarm, even in a sparsely settled place (those towers are EVERYWHERE!), they have two drawbacks: 1. It is more difficult to use radio direction finding (RDF) on their signal to locate the lost/hurt boater, and, 2. The broadcast capacity of the popular ones is severely limited by battery life. The local motor launch crews use a cell phone type rig, but it has a MONSTER battery so they can rely on it. On the funny side, I was quietly paddling up a remote slough a month ago and heard a duck hunter jabbering away to his wife -- I spotted his decoys eventually and surprised him as I drifted by. Wonder what the ducks think about the camo effects of a cell phone antenna poking out of the weeds? -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
Bob Denton wrote: > > I've been thinging about operating "maritime mobile" with my HT, > but haven't come up with a usable rig.. > > What do you use? > > W2PN > Bob Denton > Vice President > Undersea Breathing Systems > bob_at_dnax.com > http://www.dnax.com I use either a Yaesu 411(2M) or a 470(2M/20cm) and carry a dual band rubber duck along with a 5/8wave telecoping antenna from "smiley" It works VERY good. I sometimes add to this a 7amp gell battery(allows me to use full 5+watts for a long time)On longer trips may even have a .35 amp flexable solar panel. This is all the radio gear I take when in my "mini" aleut from folbot. When I'm in the 17.5 double folbot. I can take a 31amp gell battery, a .750 amp panel, ten-tec scout(turned down to 5 watts), with modules for 15,20,40, and 80M's. I use "ham stick" for each band while on the water(the kayak has 4, 17.5 alumium ribs for counter poise) and when I'm on shore I have an inverted "V" that is cut for 40M with a 20M "v" under it. For 15M I hang little "ears" off the 40M ends and that gives me 1 1/2 wave lenghs on it. For 75M I had on longer extentions to the 40M. "In real life, I hang the whole 75M thing usually, and I have a aligater clip setup that I can unhook the 75 and "seperated" to use the wire on 40M." I also carry a music stand bottom(the feet only)that I can mount the ham sticks on. I carry a 4 wire radial package that I attach to the base(usually throwing a couple in the water) and that can be set up in places where I don't feel like putting up the "v" or just no easy way to hang one.(this is NM!) :>) This is more info than you wanted I guess, but in a nut shell, that is it and it works for me. also..., you are right about the 1/2 wave and the radials. I was just mentioning the 5/8 "duckie??" that I use. Very good luck with it. NM has a very good HAM repeater system called the MEGA LINK. It is 20 machines that are hard linked and allows you pretty full coverage of the state. I can work it on every lake in the state on 2.5 watts. In some of the river canyons tho, NOTHING will get out on VHF. We also have good coverage from NOAA WX on the VHF bands! You might check this out.. http://www.eng.mu.edu/~usi/ Hope this hasn't bored everyone! James *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:32:47 PDT