[Paddlewise] background stuff re JFK Jr.

I was asked backchannel to re-post what I first wrote back in July
regarding JK's death and his paddling approach.  So, I am sending it to
both list groups.  If you get a copy of the People book at a supermarket
or newsstand (it costs $4.99), you will see that the quotes from my
original posting are not out of context and meet the basic thrust of
what I was saying.  I hesitate to reproduce what they wrote because of
copyright law although I suppose there is nothing to prevent reproducing
it by way of reviewing what they say.

Anyway, here is what I wrote back then:

************************************************
Subject: 
        [Paddlewise] JFK Jr. and Risk Taking
  Date: 
        Mon, 19 Jul 1999 08:48:10 -0700
  From: 
        rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com
    To: 
        paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net, nyckayaker_at_envirolink.org


In light of the tragedy that seems to have befallen JFK Jr., I would
like to open up a discussion regarding risk taking and preparededness as
it applies to sea kayaking.

As some of you know, JFK Jr. was also a sea kayaker.  And from reviewing
his approach to this endeavor, one can see some of the elements of
potential disaster that finally caught up with him in flying a plane.

Don’t get me wrong.  He seemed a nice likable guy, inquisitive and
approachable.  He was often enough sighted at the Downtown Boathouse
where he kept two hardshell kayaks.  He was totally unassuming and
surprisingly turned few heads.  The last time I saw him there was on a
weekend with a small crowd  of people waiting their turns to use the
public boats.  He was a good looking guy but didn’t turn heads all that
much (the place is full of great looking guys and gals) and went 
unrecognized even by the young ladies awaiting their free kayaking
chance.  At that time, he was told that I knew a lot about folding
kayaks and came over asking a lot of intelligent questions in a lively
10 minute conversation.  He seemed interested in buying one.  I knew
that in his younger days, his mother had purchased a double Klepper and
there are a number of photos of he and his cousins fooling around in it.
And I alluded to that as a reference point (principlely, don’t judge
folding singles by the behavior of folding doubles).

But on that day, he showed what I consider an overly casual approach to
kayaking on the water.  He had gone out into the busy summer weekend
traffic without seeming to turn much to see what was happening around
him and he was not wearing a PFD (I don’t believe he had one aboard
either), nor carrying a bilge pump or paddle float.

Earlier a few years back, he had written an article that appeared in the
Travel Section of the Sunday NY Times.  It was about a muti-day kayaking
trip he and some buddies took in single hardshells in Scandanavia
somewhere (I forget which country).  The foto accompanying the article
showed them all paddling barechested.  My impression was that perhaps
they may have needed some coldwater clothing and certainly should have
on their PFDs.  In the article, they ran into a typical novice
accident.  They started off one day near the end of the trip in calm
waters behind some protective island only to run into real rough stuff
once they turned a point of land.  Several of the group went over (as I
recall it). And they had no idea of how to get overboard paddlers back
into their boats.  No sense of how to empty a boat, raft up for an
assisted-rescue, etc.  The best they could come up with is to have the
individual(s) hang on to the back of the other boats and be towed into
shore.  They were pretty cold and miserable  and near hypothermic.  I
forget whether he was one of those in the water or not.

As I watched him paddling the day we had the talk on folding kayaks, I
said to myself that this guy is going to get himself hurt one day
paddling the way he did and that with his celebrity status it would draw
a lot of unfortunate attention to kayaking in NYC and to the Boathouse
program.

So I was not surprised to hear that his plane had gone down, that he had
flewn in marginal conditions for his skill level and rating.  That he
was flying totally in the dark in a near moonless night without
instrument flying knowledge.  And that there was no life vests or a life
raft aboard that one might prudently carry in a plane that was used
often over open water.

Some aviation expert on the news over the weekend recited a ole flying
adage:  “There are old pilots and there are bold pilots.  There are no
old, bold pilots.”  Some of this may apply to kayaking as well, albeit
the risks are usually somewhat less catastrophic.

ralph diaz
-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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.paddlewise.net/
***************************************************************************