Bob Washburn wrote: > > My only thought is the Coast Guard would much rather do rescues than body > recoveries. Yes to self reliance, skills, equipment, etc. But if they are > available and there is a probable need, call. It may be a false alarm, but > what if it isn't. > >Ralph wrote: > > > >>My thought is that unless you are in a dicey situation with individuals > >>hurt, equipment damaged (your kayak holed and sinking), that kind of > >>stuff, you should not call for help. We should not be rescue-call > >>happy. I am afraid as more people get VHF radios they will be tempted > >>to call sooner than they may really need to. [snip] Bob summarizes my modus operandi. In cold water, if you wait to call, until you are SURE you (or others) need a rescue, the rescue may come too late. In my experience, monitoring calls around here, the CG SAR coordinators are very good at assessing the degree of emergency in a situation, and do not willy-nilly send the helo. However, the CG will tell you they greatly prefer to get a call EARLY in an emergent situation, before things are truly desperate. Talk is cheap. That said, my group DECLINED to file a formal float plan with the Canadian CG in the Charlottes this summer. Why? Because we did not want the CG to go looking for us if we were a day late on a 15-day trip, owing to slowness of travel (or, whatever). There were enough other boats around to respond to a radioed Mayday call that if we needed help, it would have been forthcoming quickly. -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR *************************************************************************** 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 Sep 26 1998 - 08:39:06 PDT
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