Re: [Paddlewise] Need help for new club.

>Someone else mentioned allowing "level 2" paddlers to go on
>level 3 trips and balancing it out by getting some level 4 paddlers
>to go and that a level 2 paddler should be allowed to go on a higher
>level tour because it promotes improvement.  I disagree with that
>notion.  In the case of the AKT trips the advanced level trips
>*require* advanced skills and are not the place to learn them.  They're
>primarily long crossings in demanding conditions.  Someone taking one
>of those tours that doesn't have the necessary skills might not only
>be dangerous it could also ruin a trip for someone that has those
>skills.  If the trip leaders are nursing people along in some cases
>the tour might not ever be completed (ie. the circumnavigation of
>Manhatten, a 10 hour paddle).  If someone wants to practice advanced
>skills in advanced conditions a tour where other people are paying
>for it is not the place to do it.


I definitely see your point with regards to a guided, paid trip.  But in my
opinion being this strict for club trips doesn't make sense.  If you're too
rigid, paddlers run into the catch 22 of  "I need more experience for this
trip but how can I get more experience if they don't let me go on this
trip".

Most of the clubs I've checked make some real efforts at teaching skills and
safety to their members.  But practicing rolling and bracing on flatwater
will only get you so far, and at some point you need to take that high brace
or whatever out of the pool and into the real world.

I think that someone who has made a good faith effort to learn the skills
needed for a particular level trip should be given a chance to try a trip at
that level.  The keys are:  make sure it's not too much of a stretch, e.g.
if someone has only been out in 2 foot waves don't suddenly take them out in
5 footers; and as someone else stated, to keep a  high ratio of experienced,
rescue-ready paddlers to people who might have trouble.

I do think that the point about less experienced people holding more advance
d paddlers back is a consideration for clubs trips, too.  One way to deal
with this is for the trip organizers to clearly distinguish between the
advanced, "paddle or die" trips and the easier trips where you might
actually sit out the bad weather or change your plans to avoid it.

Sarah Ohmann



***************************************************************************
PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List
Submissions:     paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net
Subscriptions:   paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net
Website:         http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/
***************************************************************************