I weighed in a month or so ago on group paddling, the dynamics, and how to keep both fast and slow paddlers happy. And so did others on this list server. As John Winters reminded us, an even more lengthy discussion occured last year and his excellent points are on his website. So I found it strange that someone was chiding the group for not talking about this phenomenon. Also, I was surprised on how several individuals who swear they never paddle with groups, seemed ready to spout off about group paddling. There is no question that paddling alone or with just one or two other like-minded individuals has its appeal. Paddling with groups can be a real pain in the ass. At one time, around 10 years ago I was leading some 15-20 trips a year. Sometimes they would go smoothly but other times they could be hectic. I tend to avoid leading trips these days. The hardest thing was, and is, keeping people reasonably together for the conditions faced. So many paddlers hit the water and suddenly do a marine version of running amouk. They take off as soon as people have put in and hardly ever look back or keep in contact. As the quick ones paddle off they tend to get the less strong people to try to keep up with them and then these weaker individual peter out and are pretty much wrecked for the rest of the trip. I made a number of suggestions earlier about how to handle this but they don't always work. Quite often a group paddle turns out to be more of a group put-in than a group trip. The only thing that changes this is some near miss or mino catastrope. Nothing like that to get everyone together and staying together. I have often thought of staging one to straigthen out the group. :-) ralph -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Ralph Diaz . . . Folding Kayaker newsletter PO Box 0754, New York, NY 10024 Tel: 212-724-5069; E-mail: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com "Where's your sea kayak?"----"It's in the bag." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** 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 Mar 31 1999 - 11:52:34 PST
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