Richard - I just spent the last three weeks as one of the instructors on a sea kayak program for the Australian Army's Adventurous Training Program. The fins used to swim the boats in are used commonly here in Australia as "boogie board fins". These fins are much shorter than the average "scuba fins". It makes them easy to stow and put on in the water. In the civilian application they are used for acceleration purposes to get your board onto the waves. I use them for hunting abalone (yum) during kayak trips. Remember that the army uses them in an operational context. In other words you are deployed to land on a specific beach (usually from a sub) and it does not matter what the surf is like, you need to make that beach with you, your gear, your klepper and your mates intact (well, as much as possible) in order to complete the missions objective. In the civilian context, John Winters is most definitely correct - why are you there in the first place needing the fins?? It may indicate poor judgement or planning and maybe a time to choose a different beach to land on. Everyone should have a few good bail out beaches anyways. The guide doing the landings obviously has a system which works for him and his operation. I personally would not recommend doing this without a lot of practice and believe me the practice has it's down If you chose to land, well I'm sure that Jim Croft who has first hand experience at landing many different parts of his dismembered boat on the rocks at the same time can tell all of us a good procedure for collecting all your scattered equipment and first aid process for tending numerous abraisions on your backside!!! :)) (nice to see you back contributing to the list Jim). All the best - Wayne Langmaid Central Coast Kayak Tours - only a step away from Sydney, Australia http://www.kayaktours.com richard wrote: > A friend of mine told me of a trip he took to Australia some years > ago. While hewas there he went kayaking with a group and a guide. When > it came time toland through the surf the guide went in first, left his > kayak on the beach, swamback out and brought each of the other kayaks > in through the surf one at a timeby holding on to the stern of their > kayaks. Richard M. *************************************************************************** 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 Mon Nov 09 1998 - 22:58:43 PST
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