Chris Kohut wrote: Snip > What kills paddlers .........is presumption. Right on. I'll be one of the first people in line propounding the idea that your skill set should exceed the conditions that you paddle in, but the whole idea of "safety gear" in my opinion is that this is the stuff that you can use when your little part of the world turns nasty and ugly and things just ain't lookin' so bright anymore. In other words, when something unexpected and unpleasant happens to you or your paddling companion(s). If you _know_ that you won't need that drysuit, wetsuit, pfd, extra water bottle, first aid kit, flare, etc (insert any other piece of safety gear) then by all means don't carry or wear it, but think about it carefully.....accidents aren't something that we can predict or plan. It's one thing to be confident in your skills and it's an entirely different thing when the unexpected and unimaginable happens. I guess it all comes down to something that could be called "reasonable precaution". The definition of reasonable is always going to vary depending on the individual and the conditions. just hoping that we all "paddle wise" Dave Seng Juneau, Alaska *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Fri Aug 06 1999 - 10:04:36 PDT
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