At 07:51 AM 4/12/98 -0400, "John Winters" wrote: > >In the past I have preached about avoiding accidents (frequently a >euphemism for stupidity or ignorance) as opposed to learning how to >extricate yourself from them after they happen. This fog thing is a good >example. Bill answered with these thoughts: 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. Bill Ridlon Southern Maine Sea Kayaking Network I would like to add my first fog experience to these thoughts. We were up in the Deer Isle area. The long weekend was forecast to be beautiful. I was still a new paddler and had complete confidence in Bill's ability to get us from one island to another. Even in light fog, the islands were so close together, we could see where we were going. BUT, as we were paddling along ( and I have since learned this is not unusual in this area) a thick bank of fog started to eat up the islands in the direction we were headed. It was a bit scarey to see how thick and all encompassing it was. I kept on paddling, hoping we would reach "our" island before the fog did. Well, we almost did. We were at the last island before Steve's . Bill said, "It's just over there. We should be able to see it before we loose sight of this one. You watch the island behind, and I will paddle out in front until I see Steve's. Keep an eye on my boat as well." Not knowing how close the two islands were, all I could imagine was looking back to see the first island disappear into the fog and turn back around to see Bill's boat also gone in the fog. Of course, he knew just what he was doing. We were at our destination in about 2 minutes. In the next hour when the fog lifted I could see the 2 islands were so close it would have been impossible to miss Steve's. There was a couple on Steve's when we arrived. They were waiting out the fog, had no overnight equipment, no extra food and no compass. This was an interesting comparison to our "stuff". Even if we had been fogged in for the weekend, we had tent, blankets, extra food and clothes. AND a compass and chart. Four years later the fog does not worry me. We have navigated through some pretty thick stuff. We try to avoid it but it doesn't always work out that way. I like knowing we are prepared for, as well as respectful of, this facet of nature. Debra Southern Maine Sea Kayaking Network *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ *************************************************************************** --------- End forwarded message ---------- _____________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866] *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
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/ ***************************************************************************
I think that John has made his point clear! I do agree with you: safety is merely a matter of a t t i t u d e, not an emergency situation you probably handle with some learnt technical skills... > 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... I am very interested in seeing the article...but how about the novices - how do one teach an attitude? A good part of the rescue stories I´ve read is about what people d i d after the trouble stroke, which leads again stressing the technical side of matters. Some weeks (probably a month?) ago we were asked about to tell "close-call" stories, which was definitely a clear safety issue. I think that we got from three to four stories, if I do recall correctly. And the matter was about e s t i m a t i n g the risks. Three stories is not very much, and at the same time the amount of mail I have been receiving about technical stuff is much much larger ;-) [Putting aside my soap-box and ducking fast :-p] Cheers, Ari Saarto What is the worst nightmare of a kangaroo child: a pickpocket... Kannaksenkatu 22 / P.O. 92 15141 Lahti - Finland - Europe GSM +358 - 50 - 526 5892 fax. +358 - 3 - 828 2815 e-mail: asaarto_at_lpt.fi *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
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