Bill wrote; (SNIP) >In the past I've agreed with John on most paddling matters. Not this >one, >though. If you paddle a coast that can often have fog, you'd better know >how to navigate in it. I may have failed to make myself clear. What I have been saying is that one needs to know how to avoid dangerous situations. I have never advocated not knowing how to extricate oneself when one has failed to avoid a dangerous situation. Fog is a common problem in coastwise paddling and a paddler needs to now how to paddle in it because it can catch you. However, knowing how to paddle in it does not excuse one from knowing how to avoid it. Fog, as most mariners know, is not just an inconvenience. Knowing what causes it and understanding current conditions will a help you avoid fog. Notice how the original question was framed. It wasn't "How do I avoid fog and if I am caught in it, how do I deal with it?" It was, "How do I paddle in fog?" This is pervasive in kayaking. People ask, "What do I do when I capsize?" not "How do I avoid capsizing?" We respond with learn to roll, use a paddle float, etc.. but rarely do we tell or teach people to learn how to avoid capsize. Just this spring I was asked "How easy is it to roll that boat?" at a show. I responded that, with prudent behaviour and knowledge it is unlikely that the situation will ever arise and that you should learn rolls etc.. but your primary focus should be on learning how to stay out of trouble so you will never need to roll. The person looked me like I was crazy. She had been looking at videos on rolling and listening to pitches for rolling instruction all morning and was convinced that I didn't understand kayaking at all. She wanted a boat that was easy to roll because capsizing was what you did when you went kayaking. If one looks back through the past few months one will see lots of discussion on what to do after trouble strikes but very little on how to avoid it. Avoiding danger is the first priority of water safety. No matter how good one is at navigating in fog one is still safer if one isn't out there in it. One of the reasons I do these little surveys is to find out how many people know how to avoid danger. I am accumulating a nice body of information on attitudes etc.. that I have incorporated in an article submitted to Sea Kayaker and I continue to build on it for future articles. Cheers, 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/ ***************************************************************************Received on Tue Apr 14 1998 - 03:10:30 PDT
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