Re: [Paddlewise] Weather

Ray wrote;

(SNIP)

>A course on weather forecasting and accident prevention
>will not be able to stand on it's own (people will not sign up for it) so
it
>will just be a portion of another course.

Pause for just one moment and think about this comment. What does it say
about people? What does it say about kayaking in general? What does it say
about sea kayak safety and the attitude toward safety various organisations
present?

Now read through the index of articles in the back of Sea Kayaker magazine
and count the  number of articles about staying out of trouble and compare
them to the number of articles about rolling and what to do after you have
screwed up.

If staying alive lacks glamour then we might want to look at the BCU and
ACA  to find out why.

How much of the Quick Start course does the ACA devote to keeping out of
trouble? How much of the "Fundamentals" course?

The content of a course tells paddlers what the organisation considers
important.

(SNIP)
>
>There is so much info to cover in the allotted time for these classes that
one
>topic cannot be given the proper amount of attention it deserves.

The time spent reflects the importance of the topic. Spend 1 hour on
keeping out of trouble and 4 on rescues and the importance becomes clear.


>'Fundamental' course has a module that talks about Wind, Waves and
Weather.

So, what percentage of the course focuses on Wind, Waves and
Weather? Does it get treated as a major part of paddling or as an aside
that you might want to do some out-of-class reading on?

>In the proposed "Expeditions" workshop which may consist of an actual 3
day
>training and instruction trip, the subject of weather forecasting should
be a
>topic of it's own.

Why should one wait for an "Expedition" class?  Most of the accidents in
Deep Trouble had nothing to do with expeditions. They did have a lot to do
with novices.

(SNIP)

>Overall Safety is always stressed.

And yet, treating the cause of most sea kayaking accidents for novices has
to wait for an expedition course. The problem that I see has to do with the
priority. Ask yourself what training you want first - how to keep your
fingers out of the saw or how to bandage the cut-off stumps?

If weather and judgement are boring the instructors might ask themselves
why. Instead of concentrating on the "right" way to make a forward stroke
maybe they should concentrate on the "right" way to keep your butt our of
trouble. Then, maybe they could learn the "right" way to present the topic
so it would interest the students. Rolls etc. offer symptomatic relief not
a cure to ignorance and a macho attitude towards paddling.

Sorry for the rant but if the ACA and BCU can't figure out what has more
importance, avoiding having to roll or knowing how to roll,  then there
will always be lots of subject matter for books like Deep Trouble.

Cheers,
John Winters
Redwing Designs
Specialists in Human Powered Watercraft
http://home.ican.net/~735769/






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