Bill wrote; >John, to play the devil's advocate for a moment, given your suggestion that >one should work to prevent having to roll or self-rescue or paddle in the >fog... it seems to me that a person should not be landing in surf or >climbing while waiting out the fog. The best way to prevent those possible >broken bones is to not attempt the activities that could cause them. What >do you think? I see your point, If one considers paddling in fog a thrill and seeks the challenge then it would be appropriate to paddle in fog and even to seek it out just as those who enjoy the thrill and danger of surfing and rock climbing seek those activities out. On the other hand, in climbing or surfing one doesn't run the risk of being run down by another person whose actions you cannot control (at least not normally). That may not be an issue in some localities so paddling in fog probably doesn't pose any problem for some paddlers. One example would be smaller lakes where one cannot get lost and the lake size is such that dangerous waves etc. are highly unlikely. On the other hand, a mistake in navigation in coastwise paddling could cause problems by putting one in a tide race or some such thing that one doesn't want to be in. One might even find oneself on a rocky lee shore. Of course, if one is confident that one's navigation is fool proof or at least pretty good then fog presents no problem. Perhaps this is a bit like the life jacket discussion. I am confident that I won't capsize when paddling around in benign conditions so I don't wear my life jacket even though we have all read here that one should always wear the life jacket no matter what the condition. Perhaps those who are confident in fog can paddle in it anytime they like without danger. Of course, I always have the option of putting on my life jacket when things get rough and the person padding in fog can't make it go away so maybe they aren't exactly congruent problems. Anyway, I suppose I should alter my statement to, Unless one gets a thrill out of paddling in fog and seeks out the challenge then one should endeavour to avoid it but failing that one should possess suitable navigational skills and understand such basic fog techniques as a proper search pattern for a marker unless, of course, one has a GPS that will never fail in which case you only have to worry about others. 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 Sat Apr 18 1998 - 05:00:54 PDT
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