Berkeley Choate wrote: > > rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com wrote: > > > Performance kayaks require performance paddlers and a lot of people > > getting into kayaking are simply not going to work at getting and > > keeping the skills. Wouldn't these paddlers be better off with kayaks > > that are less skill reliant? > > > > There's been many well and reasoned arguments, but I don't like this point. The sea > is not our native environment. It's dangerous out there! Sure self-rescue is easier > on a SOT. But I'd wager that overconfidence has killed many more people than those > who may have been saved by SOTs. I'm concerned about the message being put out that > having a SOT is a substitute for having skills. I don't believe that I said anything about _substituting_ for having skills; I said _less_ skill reliant. And the skills that would play less, if no role at all, are in a part of my statement you snipped out which I quote back in here below. Without these antecedent sentences in the very same paragraph, you are making me out as advocating going out willy-nilly into the briny, which I am not. Give me a break, Berk.: >> "Some corners of this realm offer some unique advantages that some people don't seem to want to hear about or want to put outside the kingdom's gate as not worthy. For example, the earlier sit-on-top kayak discussion that I engendered that drew some flak. But let's face it, there ain't nothing easier to empty than an SOT nor much easier to get back into without pumps, paddle floats, re-enter and roll and all that. Also the middle range of SOTs are every bit as fast as the middle range of beamier hardshells made of polyethylene and are considerably stable. Performance kayaks require performance paddlers and a lot of people getting into kayaking are simply not going to work at getting and keeping the skills. Wouldn't these paddlers be better off with kayaks that are less skill reliant?" << A paddler in an SOT functions perfectly well without a pump or paddle float. He/she does not need to know a self-rescue cum float nor how to roll or to do a reentry and roll. Nor even learn a wet exit since there is nothing to be entrapped in via a sprayskirt. Moderate bracing skills suffice for most SOTs since they are quite stable. The SOT substitutes for THOSE SPECIFIC SKILLS (paddle float reentry, working a pump while sculling, etc.) that have been meat and potatoes discussions on this listserver for these long months of the northern hemisphere winter. They are unnecessary in an SOT. My specific point is that the seakayaking community should not look down its collective nose at a kayak that obviates skills that take time and which many people won't do. So you wind up with a lot of paddlers who are out there in kayaks that they have not wet exited out of and could be entrapped if wearing the de rigueur neoprene tight fitting skirt. Or they are carrying a paddle float which they have never used but did see pictures about in some book and feel they can do a self rescue with the float when the time comes. Lots of the paddlers I see out there are exactly in that predicament and would be better off in kayaks that don't require that they can do such things. An SOT may not have the panache of a sleek, small cockpited kayak with upturned bow for landing on ice floes but the SOT is more practical, easier to work with, more forgiving vessel for doing the kind of paddling most people do in the waters most people venture on to. Of course a paddler in an SOT needs skills, just not _those_ I premised my statement on. First of all, the SOT paddler should know weather, wind and currents patterns in the area as well as waterborne traffic situations on the route of travel. He or she should be dressed for the water temperature and for definitely getting constantly wet, even more so than a SINK (Sit INside Kayak), since he/she is more exposed and not slightly cocooned inside under a sprayskirt. He/she should learn good paddling technique to be efficient in paddle strokes and control the SOT in beam and quartering wind and weather conditions and following seas. Should have emergency gear with them at all times (extra clothes, energy bars, space blanket) plus signaling devices (flares, mirror, and know how to use them) and night illumination (flashlight, strobe, etc) and, of course, wear a PFD. Etc. Now, I know many paddlers do want to develop the other skills and have kayaks they can perform these skills in. But there are other forms of kayaks, such as the SOT or folding kayak, which can venture on to the same waters without some specific skills that are really a must in certain esteemed kayak forms. ralph diaz -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 Sat Apr 10 1999 - 07:15:44 PDT
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