RE: [Paddlewise] Solo or Not?

Dave Williams questions part of a post, as follows:
>
>Doug Lloyd wrote:
>>My limited experience with the BCU was that the whitewater guys who slipped
>>into the courses (during low water months) always went straight to the top
>>of the class, because they could roll, edge, blah, blah. <snip n'cut>

Dave says:
>I see nothing positive in downgrading whitewater skills.<snip-snip>. I
think it is >much better if we embrace all paddlers.<s> Doug, perhaps you
should go paddling with >some highly skilled whitewater paddlers and share
your knowledge with them and gain >their knowledge in return.<s>  

I think this is a case of mistaken "inventory". My post had nothing to do
with whitewater kayaking or whitewater paddlers. It was merely illustrative
of the consensus amongst west coast sea kayakers, of far greater
intelligence and even forbearance than myself, that BCU (*or* equivalent)
assessment schemes often place greater emphasis on hard skills, over and
above soft skills. That was my point. I even heard Frank Goodman of Valley
Canoe fame once state at a sea kayak symposium, that he'd been out in huge
swell at the base of some high cliffs where the whitewater boys were
barfing in terror. Frank Goodman is a highly skilled sea and whitewater
paddler who embraces all pursuits, and I believe he was using the same sort
of illustration in a debate we were having with Will Nordby over
certification  (in the mid eighties).

I am sorry if the "tone" of my post suggested something I did not mean.
Personally, I believe paddlers who cross-over to both sea and river
paddling make the best rough water ocean paddlers. But, that is not what
paddling at sea is really all about. Paddling on water is about letting
your time in the water-world restore, revitalize, renew and reinvigorate
your perception of your 'breath of a moment' life. Paddling on the ocean,
by-and-large, is all about gently gliding over the surface of the
undulating sea, where our spirits are soothed by a multiplicity of sounds
that connect us to a greater reality. On a lake or inland sea-way, you
often commune with yourself as much as nature. On a river, you flow ,one
with the current, working with it, intelligently dealing with obstacles --
just as you do in this grand journey called life, where twists and turns
abound.    

Sorry I bailed in a stopper and screwed up the post - again! Thanks Dave
for the swift water, "Z" line rescue and pulling me out. Now, I better look
up John Winter's post on E-Prime.

BC'in Ya
Doug Lloyd
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