[Paddlewise] Knives

My experience with knives is that they provide a false sense of safety.
Most people put knives on their PFD, but have never tried them 
in simulated or real situations.  When the time comes, you may be
in for a surprise. An example follows.

In hangliding, the knife fashion is still alive. As kayaker do, many
hanglider pilots carry a knife in their chest.  One day I decided
to try one.  I hanged from my glider in the back yard, and had someone
measure the time it would take me to cut my attachment to the glider.
Surprise! The glider's strap was much stronger than what any knife
could cut in four hours.  Then I repeated the test with a scuba diving
knife, and I did cut the strap that tied me to the glider in 40 seconds.
That is more than what most people can hold their breath under stress.

That clearly shows that the knifes used in hangliding are useless
when a pilot falls in the water. The pilot would be much better off
forgetting about the knife and looking for other means of getting
out of the harness and out of the water.

Back to sea kayaking, have any of you ever tried to get out of
a fishing net, or any entangling rope, at least in a simulated
and controlled scenario?  Are you sure your knife is going
to cut the ropes in a reasonable amount of time?  

Knifes, like any other "safety gadget" (ironic quotes) are useless
without previous testing and training.  But knives, unlike most 
safety equipment, have not even been tested by the manufacturers.

- Julio

Dave wrote:
>   Recalling a discussion about knives quite a while back, I think that
> *most* of the Paddlewise crowd do carry knives when sea kayaking.  My
> Dave Seng

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