Philip Torrens wrote: > > I think the adage "Don't paddle any further any further offshore than you're > willing to swim." is useful in making people consider seriously where > they're paddling, and whether they should, and to encourage them to prepare > properly for the possibility of losing their boat, but that it shouldn't be > taken too literally; after all, any boat, no matter how big, can be sunk by > some combination of water and weather, and sailors certainly take those > boats much further offshore than they would choose to swim. [big snip] Philip's post certainly struck a responsive chord with me. I've been out of town for a week (more on that later -- it was a nice trip), so I missed responding to the original poster. To some extent, this is a question with no fixed answer. Sometimes it is safer to paddle a substantial distance from land (to avoid tide rips off points, near-shore clusters of boomers, etc.). OTOH, no one advocates paddling so far from shore that you could not return to a safe harbor (campsite) for your evening rest. (Excluding Art Hebert and others bound for long-distance journeys.) I guess my bottom line is that the nature and number of near-shore hazards should be the biggest determinant. -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Wed Jun 30 1999 - 23:26:36 PDT
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