On Thu, 23 Apr 1998, Morris, Giles wrote: >> >>It wasn't just the SEALs (although I was horrified at what I saw of >>them). As we were watching it, I said to my wife "If I'd organized the >>race, there's no way that I would have allowed this tape out". What were >>they thinking of when they encouraged novice kayakers out in those >>conditions? And with, effectively, no safety back-up. And, was it just >>that I didn't see them, or were there teams out there not wearing PFDs, >>and without even a PFD on deck? >> >>I hate to seem as if I'm carping about what should have been a great >>event, but it did seem as if the kayak leg had plenty of potential for >>disaster. >> >>Giles Morris there's been great conversation on this on the paddlewise list, including comments from the winner of '95 & '96 maybe he can enlighten us on this as well. mark #------canoeist[at]netbox[dot]com----http://www.diac.com/~zen/mark----- # mark zen o, o__ o_/| o_. po box 474 </ [\/ [\_| [\_\ ft. lupton, co 80621-0474 (`-/-------/----') (`----|-------\-') #~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_at_~~~~~~~_at_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_at_~~~~~~~~_at_~~~~~ http://www.diac.com/~zen/paddler [index to club websites i administer] Rocky Mtn Sea Kayak Club, Colorado River Flows, Poudre Paddlers The Colorado Paddlers' Resource, Rocky Mtn Canoe Club Trip Page -- Know what I hate most? Rhetorical questions. -- Henry N. Camp *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
> From: Mark Zen <canoeist_at_netbox.com> > On Thu, 23 Apr 1998, Morris, Giles wrote: > > >> > >>It wasn't just the SEALs (although I was horrified at what I saw of > >>them). As we were watching it, I said to my wife "If I'd organized the > >>race, there's no way that I would have allowed this tape out". What were > >>they thinking of when they encouraged novice kayakers out in those > >>conditions? And with, effectively, no safety back-up. And, was it just > >>that I didn't see them, or were there teams out there not wearing PFDs, > >>and without even a PFD on deck? What I remember from the Discovery documentary, 18 participants were rescued from the sea. It appeared that the SEALs were not aware of rescue techniques (I can't help but think if they had at least known how to double up and cross-over boats to empty the flooded boat, they might have finished, but then again... maybe not :-). It was evident that skills were grossly lacking in the sea kayaking for a good many. But I have to remind myself that these folks had traveled seven and more days with little sleep before they reached the sea kayaking leg of the challenge (59 miles of sea kayaking). There were quite a few finishers. I hope the numerous rescues and lack of skill on part of the participants doesn't discourage the promoters from including sea kayaking on open water in the future. As far as backup, there seemed to be pretty good coverage including the boat that was dispatched to follow alongside the Japanese team that appeared to have rarely (if ever) put a paddle in the water and were finally pulled from the water (I was really rooting for those guys to finish, but sadly, they did not). For those who didn't see the documentary, one of the Japanese team members injured her ankle and rather than withdraw from the event, her teammates ended up taking turns carrying her over a mountain. btw, many of the pfd's were worn under T-shirts. I'm not sure why, but it seemd to be pretty common so it may have appeared they didn't have on pfd's where they were not visible because of being worn under the shirts... most of which seemed to sport something that looked like the Eco-Challenge logo. > >>I hate to seem as if I'm carping about what should have been a great > >>event, but it did seem as if the kayak leg had plenty of potential for > >>disaster. > >> > >>Giles Morris > > there's been great conversation on this on the paddlewise list, including > comments from the winner of '95 & '96 > > maybe he can enlighten us on this as well. > Robert Nagle submitted to PaddleWise some very interesting insight into the team dynamics and organization of the event. Eco-Challenge is fairly new and I think that as it grows and receives more publicity, the level of skill will most likely increase (not to overlook the fact that many of the participants were *very* prepared and skilled for this event). Maybe many participants didn't anticipate any sea kayaking as there was no sea kayaking in the previous Eco-Challenge in BC (however, there was "sea" kayaking in the '95 event held in Utah with part of the course on Lake Powell). I had mentioned earlier on PaddleWise that I wondered how many participants heard sea kayaking and thought "flatwater kayaking." A common perception among many. Robert Nagle did say that participants were made aware well in advance what might take place and what participants could expect, however. I enjoyed the documentary (which will be shown in its entirety on Sunday on Discovery channel). Related websites for anyone interested... http://www.moutainzone.com/features/eco97/index.html http://www.ecochallenge.com http://www.discovery.com/indep/ecochallenge/schedule.html http://yuri.harvard.edu/~nagle/ (website of captain of Team Eco-Internet, winners of Eco-Challenge's 96 and 97) Cheers, Jackie http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ _ _ _ _ _ \\ / \0/ \ / \0/ \ \\ " " `\ ,sSSs,\, )\w/( ,sSS..)/{) <<..> sSSS_v)/ \ )<*> sSS[(\_]___\ <(_/_o_o_ 'sS[_`-+---+) \----+-------+-------'---`-----\-------------') ~~~~~~~ ~~jf ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~\~ ~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ o \ o \\ o o \\ o o ` (\ o o >jf:-) o (/ o *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
> folks had traveled seven and more days with little sleep before they reached > the sea kayaking leg of the challenge (59 miles of sea kayaking). There were > quite a few finishers. I hope the numerous rescues and lack of skill on > part of the participants doesn't discourage the promoters from including > sea kayaking on open water in the future. You know what struck me as wierd, this was basically a race with 20 hours of paddling, more or less. But with none of the camping, fishing, photography, whatever stuff. Seems to me they should have just crammed the boats full of floatation, leaving no open voids to be filled with water. It seemed to my beginners eye that they were having trouble re-entering because the boats had to much water in them. A question too, why doubles? Aren't singles much easier to recover in, especially for those minimally trained? The other thing that struck me as wierd, of all the teams that should have had time on the water, the Japanese team would be it. Talk about a country that is all coastline. They had lots of guts though, if that had been my nasty ankle, I'd of said no-way are you hauling me up that mountain. *************************************************************************** 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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