I've wondered for 8 months (the sum total of my kayaking experience) if the safety harness strategy used by yachties applies to kayakers. i.e is it a good idea to connect yourself to your kayak via a line onto a belt when venturing into rough or isolated water. (I imagine such a line would be inappropriate for surf). This thought raised itself again when I heard about Lone Matsens death following her separation from her kayak. Is the risk of entanglement worse than the risk of separation? I'm told that "hang on to your paddle and always use a paddle leash" is the appropriate strategy and this makes sense but I still wonder if the "safety belt" approach is a useful backup. I know the arguments about rolling and accept them but rolling won't always work, particularly in some kayaks. A related issue is the suggestion that a belt can be used for towing or being towed and can be simpler than trying to find a tether on the kayak? For example I use a Klepper Expedition - very hard to roll, stable in rough water and with a history of use in isolated waters but with only two high strength tether points at the bow and stern, which are inaccessible from the cockpit. I've been considering making up a belt as a safety line and for towing or being towed but am very uncertain about its merits. Have these issues been discussed anywhere? Advice would be much appreciated. PeterO *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
From: Peter Osman <PeterO_at_ambri.com.au> To: "'paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net'" <paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net> Subject: [Paddlewise] Safety belts and/or towing ?? Date sent: Thu, 27 May 1999 19:13:35 +1000 > > I've wondered for 8 months (the sum total of my kayaking experience) if the > safety harness strategy used by yachties applies to kayakers. i.e is it a > good idea to connect yourself to your kayak via a line onto a belt when > venturing into rough or isolated water. Conventional wisdom will probably indicate that you don't want to tether yourself to your boat, Peter --- the Greenland incident notwithstanding; there were a lot of other problems with that scenario in addition to what you sited. We've bashed around the paddle leash issue on this list a lot in the past, but I don't think we had the same consensus on that --- either using one at all (generally thought advisable in heavy weather, but not universally even there), whether attaching the paddle to the paddler's wrist or PFD, or attaching the paddle leash to the boat. There are opinions on everything on this list, and you'll certainly hear some of them. Essentially, it boils down to an assessment of the value of retaining the paddle vs. the risk of entanglement in the leash, and there really aren't any universal answers. But you combine an issue of towing with tethering, and that's a different deal, entirely. There are a lot of suppliers of quick-release belts with tow rigs on the market, and many PFD manufacturers are integreating tow rig accomodations into their systems --- for an example, take a look at stuff on the Lotus Designs site <http://lotusdesigns.com/products.html>. Tow rigs are relatively simple to make, as well, but make sure you have a good quick- release cam on the belt with an easily identified toggle to activate it. Jack Martin *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
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