First one: A month or two ago we all had lots to say about knives. I said I carried a 3" one handed lock blade to avoid the rambo effect. We I went paddling in salt water for the memorial day weekend and discovered that after three days in and out of the salt water my high quality knife was stiff to open. Not from corrosion but from a build-up of salt. If I had needed it in an emergency (esp cold water) I may have been in trouble. I'm going to order a river shorty from Gerber. Second more serious one: Some if not all of us paddle alone some times. This is the reason for the next story. The husband of a women I work with just lost her husband. He was fishing in what we call a pull-over. It's a small pond formed when the water drops. It traps and concentrates the fish in these marshy areas. He was fishing alone in a small flat bottom boat with only a paddle. They found his boat and two days later his body. Most likely he drowned after having a heart attach. This was a young man 30's with no prior heart problems. I'm not drawing conclusions on what he could have done better. I'm posting this because it makes me sad that this happened to someone I know well and that it could be me as I frequently paddle and mountain bike alone. I always thought that doing these things alone was safe as long as I knew my limits. ie no open water alone and no stupid risks on the bike. In fact I was proud of my self sufficiency. I won't stop these activities. This just makes me see them differently. I think I be less proud. It won't make me safer just a better person. Jim *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
Jim, After reading the exchange on knives I came to a similar conclusion and also considered getting a Gerber River Shorty. When I went to a local paddling shop to find one, the sales person told me that a number of customers had returned them (or complained that they had lost the knife) because it did not stay securely in its sheath. I kept looking and found an excellent small dive knife from Kershaw. It has a 4 inch blade, standard edge on one side, serrated on the other with a line cutting notch near the hilt, square tip. It has a dayglo yellow plastic handle with a rubber grip section. The handle clips securely into the plastic sheath and releases by pressing a large button on the front of the sheath. They also sell replacement blades so you can convert it to other blade configurations. It is a little more expensive than the Gerber but worth the few bucks. Larry Pfisterer *************************************************************************** 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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