Alright folks, I'm getting back on my soapbox! Larry Bliven spoke of good kayakers that couldn't swim. I think this a receipe for disaster. When I guarded at the beach, we would occasionally have to swim out and wake up tourists who fell asleep on rafts. They thought they were in their local pool! Can you imagine if we let them wake up about 3 miles offshore? The point is that we must have great respect for the sea (or ANY body of water - even a pool). You just can't use a kayak, raft or anything else as a crutch. I think it is a terrible idea for anyone to go out farther than they can swim in on any boat (or at least tread water for several hours). Yes, I know that some eskimos (not p.c. - Aelutians?) couldn't swim - but that water was below freezing. And they went out to get food to survive, not for recreation! I can roll (ok, about 75% of the time on my good side), and I can reenter and roll/or climb back in with a paddle float. But I wouldn't be out there if I couldn't swim well. A kayaker who can't swim well needs to get his priorities worked out, and take an adult swim class. Or he/she should stay very close to shore ... but even then he risks becoming a fatality. Your milage may vary! - Scott *************************************************************************** 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 Wed Nov 11 1998 - 17:44:14 PST
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