Bill; I carry my spare (European) two piece paddle on my rear deck mostly because it bothers me esthetically to have it on my front deck. This is, granted, not the best of reasons but that's just me. Removing a paddle off of the back deck is not easy even under the best of circumstances and it can be particularly difficult if it is rough and the boat is pitching and rolling. Twisting and reaching for the paddle can easily cause you to dump. It is important to practice this manuouver in difficult but controlled conditions if it is going to be part of your emergency proceedure. As in most such instances, it will happen to you when you can least afford it to. Surprisingly removing the first paddle half while under water can be a handy trick. You don't have to worry about trying to balance yourself. If you have a confident half-paddle roll then purposely falling over, grabbing a paddle half and rolling back up might well be one the easiest ways of getting it off your back deck. At the fery least it could save you from having to bail out of your boat sometime. (BTW, it is this same "not having to balance yourself in rough seas" that can help with replacing a sprayskirt while upside down too. If you, like me, paddle a somewhat tippy boat you know how tricky it can be replacing a sprayskirt after a re-enter and roll with the boat full of water.) 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/ ***************************************************************************Received on Tue Apr 07 1998 - 22:00:35 PDT
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