[Paddlewise] Doug Lloyd - recent appology

Hi everyone. Never thought I'd be the subject of this much discussion, nor
the subject in the subject header! My e-mail was down for a couple of days,
so I was a little embarrassed to open up the two digest versions of PW and
see so much talk. Thanks for the support though!

On one post, Jed said (where would we be without Jed?!):

>> Hopefully  this will be my last entry into the Doug Lloyd Defense Thread. 
I am saddened to hear that you were raked over the "back channel" coals by 
someone trying to protect the newbies.>> 

I was raked over the coals nicely. The unnamed back-channeler carefully and
intelligently laid out their concerns. I simply wanted to put my apology
into context. Interestingly, there was nothing that was said in that
private e-mail to me that was not something I wasn't already thinking about.

>> I (we) don't need that kind of protection.  We need knowledge, not to
have our ignorance fertilized.  I take heart in the postings from newbies
that find themselves, as I do, experiencing and learning vicariously
through some of your hairier postings.  
For me your escapades help solidify my own self-defined limits by reinforcing 
that danger lies beyond.  I don't want to experience the ragged edge, I 
believe that I might not survive it.>>

I will not stop posting. In my original post I did say "And if you want me
to continue to be part of Paddlewise, you will just have to put up with me
and some of my ramblings and dangerous paddle-play antics, because that is
part of who I am."

Those dangerous paddle-play antics yet to be posted from my log, are mostly
"history" -  
things from my past that I feel good lessons have come out of. I will
retrojet into them, some current thought as well. I would always, and
usually do, add caveats.   

>>To change or restrict your language would gut the content of it.>>

PW is the only place I can relate events without the censure of
heavy-handed editors. But I do need to be careful with my "wordology", so
that a novice might not misinterpret posts. Also, I would assume that where
I had mentioned a lesson learned, it would be taken in the context of the
time frame of my own advancement through the sport, which depending on the
date of the occurrence, would indicate to the reader who the intended
audience was - though a novice will quickly, and usually, recognize "why"
things went wrong. 

I am a fairly safe person. I run hands-on router seminars with novices as a
part-time pursuit, doing fairly advanced pattern routing and tenons within
a short period of time with them. I also have taught beginners woodworking
for 16 years to adults. These are large, in-depth courses. I am know for my
safety record and emphasis on safety basics and back-ups. I get little
remuneration, but I thrill to see middle-aged moms, for example, whose
husbands have run out on them, discover the joy and independence of
creating custom made furniture - and doing it with safety. In woodworking,
there are norms for safety practices that are non-negotiable. Although
there are ascending levels of danger (like shaper table work), by and
large, you don't progress to riskier and riskier activities. You just take
on more complex projects, or bigger ones. Sea kayaking and WW activities
are different. Often paddlers want to ascend to newer levels of risk, or at
least where greater risk is inherent, be it a Class Two to a Class Three,
taking on an exposed, high-latitude coastline. This is why I do well with
woodworking novices, but refrain from teaching/rubbing shoulders much with
paddler-novices. I've stated that up front, but it is difficult in a mixed
audience environment like paddlewise.

>>Please Uncle Doug, tell us another scary bedtime story.  We'll grow up
believing in 
monsters that live in tide races and storm winds (and vacuum-bagged boats),
and we will stay away from them, and teach our children to stay away from
them. And when our children ask why some battering rams are shaped like
kayaks, well . .  we'll just smile and stare off into space. Jed>>

Well, Jed is in character as usual. But it is worth mentioning that while
monsters _don't_ live in tide races and storm winds, any paddler can make
_monstrous mistakes_ and get into serious difficulty. Jed knows this, as do
we all, but those monstrous mistakes start out innocently enough. Many of
my "escapades" started out innocently enough too: checking the marine
weather forecast, but not the land-based civilian one for comparison and/or
confirmation; pouring over charts and manuals ad nauseum and then leaving
out one tiny information source that would have profoundly influenced a
decision to paddle in a particular location; setting out with a narrow
window of opportunity, and not leaving enough room for a margins for
unknown factors; putting too much faith in another paddlers assertions over
their own skills and experience, and finding out too late it was all
"talk"; and forgetting about that side-drift while religiously following
your bearing on the compass - too name a few. Those types of occurrences
happen to paddlers all too often. It behooves me to share those experiences
on this forum whether the context is or is not one of seeking adventure -
after all, "questionable conditions" ia a relative term .In reality, the
times when I head out into the middle-distance in a big gale and get into
trouble are rare, but I will not censure those either - just not glorify it
all. 

BTW, I headed out this Sunday afternoon to paddle a 40 knot westerly, but
the system stalled, and the revised forecast went to 55 knots off headlands
SE. My back was soar from carrying a huge router table down the stairs on
Saturday, and the upper back muscles are still recovering from an
eccentricity invoked during the Storm Island tow -  so I went to the gym
for stretching, light reps, and some isometric excersises with an elastic
tube, instead. See, there is hope for me yet.  

But the words of Matt Broze still ring true to me all these years later
after reading his comments in the book "Deep Trouble" about paddlers who
take on grand adventures retaining some sobriety when they are around
novices. 

In closing: To all the regular PW'er heavy-hitters who are rolling their
eyes over all this Doug Lloyd nonsense of late, I apologize to you too.
However, the troops have indicated that discussion is always good (if maybe
a little tedious). I know I always come away from Paddlewise with a quantum
improvement in my understanding of how others think and view various
topics. I've even had the odd cyber-epiphany.

BC'in Ya
Doug Who! 

(Plase note new e-mail address)
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