> > IMHO people who zoom in zero visibility are much more likely to > > die from hitting another powerboat, sailboat, or structure > > than they are to every hit/kill a kayaker/canoeist. Personally, > > I tend to think natural selection will eliminate them long > > before they do me any harm. > > So... if you are wrong, does that mean you were eliminated > through natural selection? > > Just curious... yes. However, no one has presented anything concrete to make me suspect that the risk of collision is particularly high. I know we all have anecdotal stories of near misses; but I'm wondering how is that kayak/canoe specific. I'm also not saying that the risk is zero, or that death is not possible. I personally do not allow these minimal risk/maximal harm situations effect the choices I make. There are simply way to many of them to get all hot and bothered about any particular one. We take these kinds of risks all the time, everything from eating oysters that we didn't personally prepare, to merging on the freeway on short, high speed ramps. I personally, just can't seem to get particularly excited about them. I'm much more concerned about watching my allergies, preventing lung infections, wearing my seatbelt, etc; because those are risks which are actually significant. Avoiding a fog-crossing because of risk does virtually nothing to reduce your exposure to these min/max possibilities. If one was going to avoid all of these min/max situations, you'd spend your life avoiding life. Thanks, but no thanks. Questions to ask: How many sea kayakers died last year as a result of collision? How many people/days of sea kayaking were there? How many people/days of sea kayaking were done in the fog? How many of the collision deaths were attributable to low vis? Unless one can answer those questions, the risk assessment is based on nothing but anectdotes and emotion. I'm not in the habit of assigning much credibility to either. *************************************************************************** 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 Sun Apr 12 1998 - 08:36:37 PDT
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