RE: [Paddlewise] Current Info on Electric or Foot Pumps?

I'm going to regret this, but I just have to bring it up.

I don't like electric pumps 'cause I don't trust the batteries.  

I don't like foot pumps because:

    (1) I have several boats and can't afford to permanently install a pump
in each one.  

    (2) I have a folding boat and I can't imagine getting a foot pump or an
electric pump to work in my folding boat (or at least, not without
significant modification of the boat).  

   (3) if you don't know how to get by with a hand pump, what do you do when
you use someone elses boat or a rental boat?  You can always bring your hand
pump along, but if you are dependent on your foot pump or your electric
pump, you're out of luck.

Look, the foot pump and the elctric pump are in my opinion. leaning too
heavilly on equipment to save your ass.  I like to use minimal equipment and
then build (and practice) the skills to safely enjoy my kayaking obsession.


I carry (and practice using) a handpump, and then do everything in my power
to train myself so I never need it.  My boat is my "other PFD".  I don't
swim when I paddle my sea kayak.  If I fllip (and I flip alot) I'll roll.
If my paddle breaks, I'll pull half a spare off my back deck and roll up.
If that paddle is stuck on the deck, I'll hand roll.  If the conditions are
bad enough that I need to swim, I've done something really stupid and
deserve to byte the big one.  

Its a risk-benefit game.  I  make the risk of a swim so small, that even
with the reduced capability provided by the hand pump, my aggregate margin
of error  is well within my personnel comfort zone.  So while Nick Gill and
the folks "down under" would fail me in their basic competency tests (or
whatever he called it), I feel that overall, I'm safer than many of the
equipment-dependent folk out there.

--Tim

P.S   I'm sorry for rambling on about this point.  I guess I'm still in a
mild state of shock after reading the account of the last voyage of Lone
Matsen  in the recent issue of sea kayaker (I know I have her name a bit
wrong --- I don't have the magazine with me).  I have frequently dreamed of
repeating her exploits in the far north, so her death hit me hard.  Then
when I heard that neither she nor her partner could roll, I was angry.  Not
at her, and not at her partner (who, I suspect, will relive that voyage for
the rest of his days).  I am angry at an all to pervasive attitude that
rolling is an esoteric trick and not something experienced paddlers should
strive to master.

If you haven't read that article yet, read it. It has some important lessons
for all of us.  In high winds, if your rescue requires that you exit your
boat, you are in big trouble. By every account I've read, Lone was a fine
paddler.  But as she unfortunately found out, the wind will wisk your boat
away in no time at all once you exit the boat.  The type of pump you use is
irrelevant if you and your boat are separated (or if you can't get back in
for some reason).

I don't want to re-ignite the debate over whether everyone should learn to
roll.  I can accept that many sea kayakers can safely pursue the sport
without a roll.    But,  I do believe that anyone who participates in
extreme kayaking (like open ocean kayaking off Greenland in early autum)
must  roll.  I've heard too many sea kayakers (and even some instructors)
say that sea kayakers don't need to have a roll.  With few excpetions (such
as physical handicap),  I just don't agree with this attitude.  

We have a lot to learn from our brothers and sisters in the white-water
world, where rolling is considered a basic skill to be mastered by everyone.





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