[Paddlewise] Weather

I would like to second this.  As a former Marine with eight years in Intelligence the weather was always the number one thing on everyone's mind.  Whether talking to a bunch of grunts in the field or the commander of an entire regiment, the weather was the first thing that we briefed.  In the Corps the weather geeks are part of intelligence, this is because no commander will make any decision unless they know how the weather is going to effect them.  If we dumb Marines can figure this out it shouldn't be all that hard for paddlers.

I do not see weather and weather forecasting on that list. I have just completed a re-read of "Deep Trouble" and kept tally of the root causes of the accidents. In all but four instances the root cause of the incident resulted from deteriorating weather or the failure to recognise its severity.
I have assumed that the list provided by Ray reflects those topics that the ACA considers important or at least important enough to treat as major topics of instruction. I may be chastising the ACA unfairly so maybe Ray can bring us up-to-date on the amount of the proposed course devoted to weather and weather forecasting as well as staying out of trouble.
As I mentioned some time back, few kayaking courses cover weather awareness in much detail (based on my own experience and my survey on the topic) . No doubt there will be some content in the ACA course on weather but the list Ray gave us suggests its importance (not much) to the course. No doubt accident prevention lacks the glamour of rolling, expeditions, surf and traditional skills but it seems to me to that bland old keeping out of trouble should be a major topic.
I have also checked the BCU handbook and out of roughly 500 pages only four are devoted to weather. In 6.5 pages of bibliography only one book listed is devoted to weather. Lest one think I am picking on the BCU, none of the other manuals I have read does any better and many do worse.
Sorry for the broken record. I get  bit testy at the almost never ending parade of posts over wet suits, rolls, rescue gear, rescue methods etc. but nary a word about not getting into those situations where such gear might be required.
ETC.
Cheers,
John Winters


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