Steve Holtzman wrote: > "A good leader can tell people to go to hell and have them WANT to make the > trip." It's possible to lead by example and keep people safe. If someone > needs to turn back, either let them go with another experienced paddler, OR > announce that YOU will lead the group back to assist this other paddler. I am SO glad you brought this up as there was a discussion of this earlier. It is something I learned along the way from others. Real early on in my paddling experience, I was taking instruction from Chuck Sutherland, who is a well know personage in paddling around here in the East. He was describing the question of group trips, the overstated experiences of paddlers on them, etc. and he related a story. He was leading a twilight trip in Connecticut into Long Island Sound (I think I got the place right). A father and son were on the trip. They said they had experience (Chuck had stated this as a condition) but Chuck had his suspicions about them. Within about 100 yards of shore, something confirmed his suspicions (I can't remember what) and he decided they should not continue with the group. As he related the story, I in my eagerness piped up. "So you sent them back!" seeing as the shore was so close. Chuck glared at me, "Are you nuts? I ESCORTED THEM AND THE REST OF THE GROUP BACK!!!" Once he knew they were on shore, the group trip proceeded as planned. That's leadership. 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 Sun Apr 04 1999 - 16:08:27 PDT
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:30:06 PDT