RE: [Paddlewise] How and when to speak up

How timely, Ralph.  I was just on the phone this morning with someone from
the group discussing this very topic.  Each year situations surface that
cause us to rethink how we should/could handle various situations.
Afterall, something that starts out minor in the morning can end up to be
enormous in the afternoon after fatigue sets in or the storm hits.  In the
conversation this morning, we came to no definitive answers other than these
occurances sure open our eyes and cause us to think through stuff that might
happen.  Personally, I believe I should speak up (and generally will with
those who are new to the sport).  But I have a lot of trouble speaking up
with others who have a lot of outdoor experience.  I guess I've gotten those
rolled eyes and snorts at my suggestions enough that it causes me pause and
internal distress. 

Debs
Sandy Hook, NJ
> ----------
> From: 	rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com[SMTP:rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com]
> Sent: 	Tuesday, November 02, 1999 4:38 PM
> To: 	nyckayaker_at_envirolink.org; paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net
> Subject: 	[Paddlewise] How and when to speak up
> 
> I guess like others on this list, I have run into situations when you
> see someone doing something somewhat risky in sea kayaking and you have
> to decide whether to speak up or not.  At one time, I was quite vocal
> but felt increasingly that I was sounding like a spoilsport or grouch
> and started laying off. 
> 
> The other day was an example.  The Downtown Boathouse has a number of
> kayaks that were donated by a publication with a stylistic approach to
> recreation and other life style pursuits in its writing and layouts. The
> understanding is that the magazine staff, which doesn't seem to have
> anyone over 30 years old (although I am certain there are a few past the
> Big Three Oh) can use these boats any time that they are not earmarked
> for the public program.  Trouble is that while they are enthusiastic and
> gung ho, they tend to lack paddling skills, traffic & river savvy and
> much in the way of an idea of cold water clothing and other safety
> considerations for self rescue (I remember the astonishment of one of
> the "senior" ones who had been paddling for a year when he first tried
> pressing down with a borrowed paddle float, "Look at this, wow, it holds
> you up!).  On the latter, they may be learning but regular members of
> the Boathouse constantly find themselves wincing over the impervious
> outlook of the mag staff toward paddling.  For example, one Boathouse
> regular was about to go paddling at dusk when the mag crowd showed up
> and was ready to embark without so much as a little keychain squeeze
> light among them let alone even a modicum of adequate lighting.  He
> finally decided to say something and then lent them some extra lights he
> has around.  He paddled out with them to be around for just in case but
> then got the willies over how they were paddling (I didn't ask what
> exactly gave him the feeling) that he just left them after awhile.
> 
> The other day it was my turn to play Scrouge with members of the young
> mag staff.  I was getting ready to go paddling when I saw them coming in
> from a paddling trip.  They were all wearing shorts and cotton T-shirts
> and had to have landed obliviously next to a small group on the
> launching dock that was going out in Polartec Thermal Stretch suits,
> paddling jackets etc.  I was readying my own shorty version (with
> jacket) of the same.  (Water temperature was around 55 degrees.)  I
> decided to speak up as diplomatically as I could but the words still
> sounded like I was being a mean old crank or so it seemed to me in the
> reflection of their wide open innocent eyes.  I felt like a parent
> saying wash your hands before supper, clean your room, etc.  You know
> the look kids give in such situations.  I can imagine their saying to
> each other when they got out of my earshot "Who was that old fart and
> what was he talking about?"
> 
> This is a problem experienced/prepared paddlers run into.  I remember
> reading in Anorak an article by a respected paddler typifying the
> situation.  He and a group of experienced paddlers were setting out at
> the same time as another.  The experienced kayakers had on dry suits and
> wet suits and kayaks decked out with tow ropes, bilge pumps, paddle
> floats, etc.  The guy was in jeans and windbreakers with not much in the
> way of safety gear evident.  It did not occur to him that these
> experienced guys may have known something he didn't about safety etc. 
> Kinda like the laws of nature and the sea did not apply to him.  The
> author of the article pondered to himself, agonizingly so, whether to
> say something and finally did in as a non-confrontational manner as he
> could...and he is a diplomatic mild-mannered fellow.
> 
> So some questions:
> 
> 1.  Should one speak up always when confronted with such situations of
> pretty off-the-mark paddling approaches?  I don't mean talking with
> someone who is wearing a farmer john when you think the situation calls
> for a full suit or not having spare paddles etc. i.e. incremental
> differences rather than wholesale ones.  I mean something very basic
> like seeing some one with jeans and windbreakers in Northeast paddling
> in December.
> 
> 2.  What is the best way of vocalizing the dichotomy between their
> oblivious paddling approach and a more prudent approach that experienced
> paddlers tend to adhere to?  I have sometimes thought about things to
> say  in imaginary scenarios but when confronted with a real situation,
> the words tend to come out wierd, i.e. doctrinaire sounding,
> pontificating, scolding, etc.  Give it a try and you will see what I
> mean.
> 
> 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."
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
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