Re: [Paddlewise] Weather

Most folks who take paddling instruction only take it at an introductory
level, will only paddle on weekends, will seldom get far from shore, and
will only set out in fair weather.  I doubt if a weather intensive course
could be marketable to these folks, regardless of how valuable it would be.

A question then is how can an instructor in a typical intro course drive
home the importance of weather?  

I have tried to stress the importance of regularly watching the weather --
building it into the structure of the day's paddle.  I call on students
frequently to review the weather conditions and make a call as to whether
we continue on or not.  It gets the point across that weather watching is
vital, without impinging on on-water instruction time.  Of course they do
not walk away with any skills at predicting the weather, but they do walk
away with the knowledge that watching the weather throughout the day is
important, and that if they see a change in the wind or water or sky, they
should make for shore.  (BTW, the breaks include checking weather, checking
route and time, checking group continuity, and checking each other.)

This practice does not translate well into textbooks, for it is a very
simple concept which does not require lengthy explanation.  I wonder, what
would be the response to a paddling text which began every wreck and rescue
technique matter with "Having forgotten to check the weather, the
__________ (fill in the blank with waves have risen, temperature has
dropped, etc.) and your survival now depends on your ________ (fill in the
blank with rafting up, re-entering, rolling up, dropping a drogue, etc.)." 
Perhaps this would be too pedantic or too even patronizing, but I think
that if it were handled correctly (e.g. a Nealy approach) it might work.  

Richard Culpeper
www.geocities.com/~culpeper


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