In a decade of sea kayaking I've never used my spare paddle for myself. However, I have lent it to a dismasted winter windsurfer who was straddling his board, and despite vigorous hand paddling, was being blown relentlessly out to sea. Through a combination of his efforts with my spare paddle and my towing and verbal encouragement/goading, we made it to shore just as he was becoming incoherent with hypothermia. Fire/ambulance teams, called by an alert friend of the windsurfer's who had noticed his car parked with his street clothes in the back seat, took over at this point. (One of the fireman, not clear that I was a helper rather than a helpee, tried to stop me putting back out to sea!) Anyway, if I never use my spare again, I figure it's paid for itself being carried for the rest of my paddling career. Besides, with its tough polycarbonate blades, it makes a great pole for my tarp - saving space from a single purpose pole, and making room for more plastic pink flamingos. Philip Torrens "The opinions expressed in this posting are not necessarily those of my employer, or indeed, of any sentient being." **************************************** Mountain Equipment Co-op 1655 West 3rd Avenue, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6J 1K1 Tel: 640-732-1989 Fax: 604-731-6483 email: pid_at_mec.ca Visit our website at: http://www.mec.ca ***************************************** *************************************************************************** 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 Wed Apr 08 1998 - 12:24:48 PDT
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