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From: Julio MacWilliams <juliom_at_cisco.com> subject: [Paddlewise] equipment caveats Date: Fri, 4 Dec 1998 12:09:21 -0800 (PST) · This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:32:54 PDT

Thanks Jack Martin for your excellent post, which has tunned by brain
into another frequency of kayak safety.

Most of the sea kayaking equipment, and specially the ones that deal
with safety, have caveats that easily reverse their purpose and
end up contributing to disaster, at least in the form of had-he/she-used-
another-safety-solution-nothing-would-have-happened.

I propose that we collect, for the Paddlewise archives, a list of
equipment caveats that the paddling community can refer to.

I will start with a few of them.

PFD's: The type III PFD used in sea kayaking has a marginal 15lb
 of flotation, and does not keep and unconscious paddler's head
 out of the water. A type II PFD is designed to keep a victim's
 head out of the water, but it is not comfortable for paddling.
 An inflatable type II has amazing flotation, and is comfortble,
 put it requires a conscious paddler to inflate it, and has to
 be maintained with care.

Sea seat: The idea is very good, but the absence of grab loops,
 and the lack of a mechanism to deflate it quickly, make it very
 difficult to use. It requires previous serious training, which
 is of no use when the energy/core temperature meter is very low.

Paddlefloats: Many of the inflatable paddlefloats I have seen leak,
 or have punctures for rarely anyone inspects/maintains them frequently.
 They have great buoyancy and are virtually unsinkable.
 Solid paddlefloats are readily accessible, but have marginal buoyancy
 and sink easily. 

Drysuits: The gaskets need to be in good condition, and all zippers
 must be well maintained and fully closed. Otherwise is like no having
 any protection at all, or even worse as a flooded dry suit restricts
 the paddler's movement dramatically.

Expedition Kayaks: This kayaks were made to carry heavy loads, and
 behave very well when the water line is where it was meant to be
 in their design. Many paddlers use them for day trips and are
 succeptible to a variety of problems --weathercocking, lack of
 maneuverability, "weird" stability, to name a few.

Rudders: Rudders can be in the way of an effective rescue and tow.
 They also increase the probability of serious damage if a kayaker
 is hit by a kayak in the surf. As any mechanical device in sea kayaking,
 the paddler must learn not to depend on it.

Skegs: Their deployment mechanism tends to fail when gravel or sand gets
 in the skeg slot. The paddler must be trained not to depend on them.

Sea Wings (sponsons): Very hard to deploy by a solo paddler. They are
 inflatable and therefore dependent on proper care/inspection. The
 kayak has to be previously rigged for their use. They increase
 form stability only, which might not be desirable in steep waves.
 The increase of form stability is not dramatic, it has its limitations,
 and for that the paddler needs to train seriously with their use.

      ... your turn.

Now it is time for your input. Let's make a good thread and put this
in the Paddlewise homepage for the paddling community.

Please feel free to add positive/not-so-positive information to 
items previously posted.

Thanks,

- Julio

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