Re: [Paddlewise] experience kayaker clinging

Jackie Fenton wrote:
> 
> From: Dave Kruger:
> 
> > I believe Tom has been bitten once, at LaPush.  For that, he has earned the
> > right to chide the rest of us, who have yet to get bit.
> 
> Chide this group for what?

[snipped Jackie's response -- which said, in paraphrase:  1. it is good we
have a crowd of people who are willing (and talented at) post-mortem analysis
of "incidents" like the cling-on-the-buoy guy's experience, and, 2.
information she (we) glean from the list is valuable in preventing dances with
the grim reaper. Note:  I agree with you, Jackie, on both of those points.] 

Yeah, I get a lot of good insight from the analyses others volunteer here. 
Yet, I understand the point tomckayak makes:  "stuff" happens, and we need to
accept that if we enter an unpredictable environment, "stuff" will probably
happen to each of us at some point.  Tom has walked that talk.  He gets to
"chide" us a little, if you will.

In addition, Tom pokes fun at folks who certificate their walls but do not
regularly "test the envelope" of their skills and preparation on the water. 
He makes a valid point, though perhaps in an unnecessarily insulting manner.  

When I was a climber, I used to see climber wannabees who stuffed their
rucksacks with gear, took all the "right" classes and trainings, but did not
have the chutzpah to thrash their way up a difficult pitch:  they enjoyed the
flash and dash of looking and talking like climbers, but they never tackled
the gristle and meat of engaging the mountains on their own terms.

Not saying anybody should "just do it" either in the mountains or on the
water, throwing all caution to the winds.  Not pointing a finger at anybody in
particular (cause I truly do not know any paddlers analogous to the climber
wannabees described above -- I'm in the sticks, man!).  **Am** saying we learn
in proportion to the extent we regularly test our skills.  And, if we are
truly *testing* our skills, we are sometime, somewhere, gonna have an
"incident."  The guy who hugged the buoy could have been one of us.  I think
it is good to parse out what happened, and what mistakes he might have made,
*if we do it with a grain of humility.*  The tut-tut crowd should cut the buoy
guy some slack, is what tomckayak is saying, I believe.

I think it is a matter of finding out, regularly, where the edge of our
abilities lies.  If we do not explore that, under reasonably controlled
conditions, then when Ma Nature puts us in a little trap, we won't really know
what is "safe" and what is not. 

-- 
Dave Kruger
Astoria, OR

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