Jack Martin raises a good point about possible entrapment with any sandal. I know there are instructors and trip leaders who ban people if they are in sandals. Over tne last 10 years, there have been a handful of incidents involving such entrapment and so some instructors and leaders get antsy about it. I remember Tammy Venn of Atlantic Coastal Kayaker writing about it in her magazine or earlier in the club newsletter she used to edit. I have not personally experienced such entrapment. But If I know I am going to be around someone who is skittish about such potential danger, then I will not wear the sandals out of respect especially in a hardshell. For rolling sessions, for example, I will wear neoprene booties instead. For the most part I paddle folding kayaks and most do not have pedals and therefore little danger of entrapment. The one manufacturer that does have pedals, Feathercraft, has them constructed in a way that it would be impossible to catch a strap on them. The Feathercraft pedal instead of being a flat piece of material is in the form of a wedge. Most hardshell pedals are fairly flat and about 1/4 to 3/8 inch thick, so it is possible that the pedal's edge could slip in under your foot or a strap. The Feathercraft is very much a wide wedge that can't really slip in between your foot and the footbed or underneath a strap. In addition, many Feathercraft owners (not me) use sea socks which also avoid the possibility of entrapment on a pedal because of the sock being between them and the pedals. 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 - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Sun Feb 13 2000 - 13:08:26 PST
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