[Paddlewise] two dear friends lost

Greetings All:

I am reluctantly rejoining this list (or what used to be the Wavelength
list) after a couple of years absence. The reason is I've just lost two
very dear friends and colleagues - Mark Seltzer and Marilyn Chan, whom you
may have heard, were lost in a kayaking accident near Pond Inlet, Baffin
Island, last week.

My reason for getting involved in this list and on this topic is to explore
some answers as to why this tragedy might have happened and learn what we
can from it. I am a fairly active canoeist and kayaker myself, so this sort
of analysis is important to me in more ways than one.

I'm seeking any input from people who might have been to the area (Pond
Inlet) and know the conditions there, or might have other insights as to
what went wrong, what might have prevented this tragedy from happening, and
just where we can go from here.

I am not seeking to place blame anywhere and I don't want to get into any
questions about the skill level of the kayakers involved at this point,
although I realize that this was a factor in the incident. For your info, I
don't exactly know what their skill level was - obviously not enough.

Maybe this isn't such a good idea, or maybe this isn't the place to talk
about it, and if you think so, please don't hesitate to tell me so and I'll
move on. On the other hand, if anybody has any insights to share regarding
this particular tragedy, please feel free to contact me or carry on the
discussion.

Sincerely,

Richard Procter, <rjp_at_interlog.com>
Mansfield, Ontario.

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