Yesterday I was invited to watch the firefighters practice their rescue techniques down at the "refurbished" dam. This is the first time they have had to really practice there as now the dam is far more appealing to white water enthusiasts They were using a Zodiac motorized raft/trailer outfit pulled behind one of their utility pickups. This looked pretty neat, but it was what was inside the rescue rig that caught my eye. While they were unloading their gear, I was presented with great oppportunity to snoop through some of their rescue devices. They had stacks of PFD's, helmets, throw ropes and long snare poles all properly stowed on a rack above the Zodiac trailer. Underneath all the typical rescue stuff was a bright orange frisbee. It was about two inches thick and 18 inches across, with about 75 feet of 1/4 inch poly rope strung around a deep groove on the side. The firefighters would take turns throwing and rewinding this disc. Most guys could chuck it a lot farther than they could lob the throw ropes. Their was an older guy who said "well, I was never much for Frisbees - but if the Chief says I have to know how to use it..." It was really slick how smoothly the disc flew, uncoiling as it went, the disc was rather large, I can imagine a person leaning on it like a boogie board in the current. When step back and evaluate it I see that it would be too big for continual service on decked boats, as throw ropes take up much less space on board. This device looks great, but the rope is obviously not thick enough to handle rescues in heavy currents. However, it would be great for an onshore rescue rig for swimmers and boaters in distress close to shore. I think back to Bill Nealy's book - Advanced Whitewater Techniques and I always laugh when I read the part about good victims and bad victims. I imagine pegging a really bad victim in the face would humor me more than merely hitting them with a soft bag. As in frisbee, you could blame the wind for any discrepancy that may arise from your throw. Aside from my sadistic need to repel uncontrollably panicky people, what do listmates think of the disk concept? Later, Phil Huck thekayaker_at_yahoo.com _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free _at_yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
phil wrote... snip >Aside from my sadistic need to repel uncontrollably >panicky people, > what do listmates think of the disk concept? > Might be good for shooting a line between boats or islands, you know, frisbee over the small line, connected to the big line etc. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
Jim Champoux wrote: > > phil wrote... > snip > > >Aside from my sadistic need to repel uncontrollably > >panicky people, > > what do listmates think of the disk concept? > > > > Might be good for shooting a line between boats or islands, you know, > frisbee over the small line, connected to the big line etc. Well, I can't see Jackie Fenton using one. She paddles with her dogs Mollie and Hallie. One of them might decide to do what dogs do...chase the frisbee. :-) ralph -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Ralph Diaz . . . Folding Kayaker newsletter PO Box 0754, New York, NY 10024 Tel: 212-724-5069; E-mail: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com "Where's your sea kayak?"----"It's in the bag." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
> > Jim Champoux wrote: > > > > phil wrote... > > snip > > > > >Aside from my sadistic need to repel uncontrollably > > >panicky people, > > > what do listmates think of the disk concept? > > > > > > > Might be good for shooting a line between boats or islands, you know, > > frisbee over the small line, connected to the big line etc. > > Well, I can't see Jackie Fenton using one. She paddles with her dogs > Mollie and Hallie. One of them might decide to do what dogs do...chase > the frisbee. :-) As long as the dog was smart enough and could swim well enough to bring it to it's original target it wouldn't be a problem. Many years ago I was standing in a grocery store checkout line and noticed that the woman behind me had a small daypack that held about six "frisbees". Just to make smalltalk I said something like "it looks like you really like throwing a frisbee, so do I". She looked down her nose and responded in the most condescending tone she could muster, "they're not frisbees, they're flying discs". In any case, I was rather rudely informed that "Frisbee" was a brand name and not all "flying discs" were Frisbees. The only problem that I can see with using a Fri^H^H^Hflying disc for a throw line is that if there is a strong wind one's accuracy might not be as good as it would be with a object that tends to cut through the wind rather than float on it. If you're not accurate with your first toss winding the line back on the disc would be more difficult and it doesn't seem like you could spin the disc unless there was line spinning off of it. > ralph > -- > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > Ralph Diaz . . . Folding Kayaker newsletter > PO Box 0754, New York, NY 10024 > Tel: 212-724-5069; E-mail: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com > "Where's your sea kayak?"----"It's in the bag." > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > > *************************************************************************** > PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List > Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net > Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net > Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ > *************************************************************************** > -- John Fereira jaf30_at_cornell.edu *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
> > phil wrote... > snip > > >Aside from my sadistic need to repel uncontrollably > >panicky people, > > what do listmates think of the disk concept? > > > > Might be good for shooting a line between boats or islands, you know, > frisbee over the small line, connected to the big line etc. I once had to run some networking cable between a couple of buildings about 50' apart. I picked up a soft foam rubber ball about the size of a softball at a toy store and then poked a hole through it and fed line in it with a 5" nail. Then I tied the line to the cable and threw it from the top of the root of one building to the other. It worked so well that I kept the ball with the line in it our raised floor computer room. Whenever I needed to run a cable under the floor I'd just lift up the floor tiles where I wanted to cable to go from and to, look under the floor to see where the other end was supposed to go, and then toss the ball under the raised tile floor, find the line at the other end and pull the cable through. -- John Fereira jaf30_at_cornell.edu *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
> what do listmates think of the disk concept? I tried out one of these a few months ago -- one of the local police departments had one. Insofar as the casual paddler is concerned, I wouldn't get one. That's a big disc to keep in your boat, The line on it is necessarily thin in order to get any useful length, and perhaps too thin for whitewater use. Certainly it was difficult to hold onto in cold temperatures. You also have to remember to throw it in the proper rotation for the line to pay out. Otherwise it drops at your feet. I was able to get the thing to unwind completely but it took a pretty heavy heave. What It could be used for is to get a line across a stream or obstruction, then attach a heavier line to be pulled across. Here in NJ there are a couple of lowhead dams which are way too wide for this one to be useful. One of these was "refurbished" after it killed three people in the first year of its existence. Where is yours, out of curiosity? Joe P. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
> > > > Might be good for shooting a line between boats or islands, you know, > > frisbee over the small line, connected to the big line etc. > > Well, I can't see Jackie Fenton using one. She paddles with her dogs > Mollie and Hallie. One of them might decide to do what dogs do...chase > the frisbee. :-) > > ralph > -- They don't always need an excuse to dive into the water :-) by the way... I have an article on the GASP web site about the remarkable fact that when I paddle with pooch-on-board, where I previously thought I was invisible in my kayak to powerboaters, they suddenly develop owl-like eyesight and spot the pooch on deck and come to an almost immediate stop while trying to slow down so as not to upset the kayak with the "little doggie on board." Never have any problems with jetskiiers or powerboaters when pooch is on deck. Simply amazing. You can view the article/photos at: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/poochyak.html There is also a gallery of paddling pooches (we are not alone :-). Cheers, Jackie __ (_( )_ ( _ ( ) _ _ (__ (_ _ __ ) / \O/ \ _ _ " / \O/ \ " __ __ ///\www/\\\ ////|\\\\ ____ /// Y \\\ ____ (____>======(((/v\)))======<____) //"\\ _ ///|\\\ _ _ __/ ||\///"\\\/|| \\ _________________( /",o______\\\\||"||////__________ \\ .' (`y _(_at___~_ v') "" "" "" "" `. ~~~"'~ ~~ ~~~~~~~~~ \\~/[ | | ]\~//~~~ ~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~ ~ `~~~~ ~~~ ~ ~~~~ ~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~ ~ ~~~~~ ~~ ~~~ ~~ ~ ~~ ~~~~ \__ ~~ ~~~~ ~~ ~~~ ~~~~ ~~ o."\ ) ~~~ ~~ > _at_)) ~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~ _) /_ ~~ ~~~~~ ~ ~ ~~~ ~~ ~ ~~~ ~ ~ [ / ] ] ~~ ~ ~~ ~ ___[/ /__] ~~ ~ ~ ~~ \------------------------(_at_----'--`----------------------/ ~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~ ~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~ ~~ ~~~~~~~~ jf~ ~~ ~ ~ ~~~~~ ~~~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~~~~ "You ought'n to talk about open-water fetch when Tiny is along." *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
>by the way... I have an article on the GASP web site about the >remarkable fact that when I paddle with pooch-on-board, where I >previously thought I was invisible in my kayak to powerboaters, >they suddenly develop owl-like eyesight and spot the pooch on deck >and come to an almost immediate stop while trying to slow down so >as not to upset the kayak with the "little doggie on board." >Never have any problems with jetskiiers or powerboaters when pooch >is on deck. Simply amazing. You can view the article/photos at: >http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/poochyak.html > >There is also a gallery of paddling pooches (we are not alone :-). > >Cheers, > >Jackie Now there is a idea, a inflatable pooch with dual purpose of a PFD and a deterrent for boats zipping by. Some where there has to be some money to be made. We could call it the "Jackies Inflatable Pooch." Dana *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
G'Day, Of course one could always try using a boomerang! PeterO Ralph said: > As long as the dog was smart enough and could swim well enough to > bring it to it's original target it wouldn't be a problem. *************************************************************************** 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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