[Paddlewise] paddle floats

Julio McWilliams writes, RE: the paddle float self-rescue:

<<It is a catch 22--to make the paddlefloat rescue work, you need
to practice; but if you practice you do not need it.<<

Sounds like a pretty good reason to practice, to me.

RE: the validity of paddle floats in general, and of hand pumps - I just 
can't stay out of this one any longer. They're used because they're cheap, 
they're available everywhere, and they require no modifications of the boat.

They just can't be as bad as they're being painted in this list. Tens of 
thousands of paddlers have used these two items of equipment for several 
years now, and there has not been a wholesale die-off of paddlers. Perhaps 
there are reports of some deaths specifically due to the need to use a hand 
(stirrup) pump. If so, I've missed them.

Although Colin Calder apparently feels that they shouldn't be used, the 
beginning of his post to the group actually shows why paddle floats should 
work, in most situations. The "combat conditions" which knocked us over don't 
often continue on an instant-by-instant basis. We do wash out of the tide 
rip, we do get time before the next rogue wave hits, and so forth. So they 
have worked, they do work, and they will work, for most of us, almost all of 
the time.

Nobody can argue against the fact that a good foot pump or a good electrical 
pump (if the batteries are charged!!!) is superior to a stirrup pump. But I 
think a very good argument can be made that the paddle float, especially, 
adds a large measure of safety.

Bill Hansen

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