Re: [Paddlewise] rolls and failure (and risk)

Kirby Stevens wrote:
> 
> Yes Doug,
> 
> You can be considered a failure.   One has to look at the surroundings they
> are in and way the odds of what might happen. [snip]
> 
> Unfortunately many people consider knowing how to roll and the be all, end
> all of paddling and have the misunderstanding that knowing how to roll their
> kayak makes them invincible.    They are sadly mistaken.    I/myself came
> from the school that learning to roll is the last thing you learn so you can
> better braces and strokes without having to rely on a roll.

> -----Original Message-----
> From:   Doug Lloyd 

> Someone said:
> >RE: "Needing to perform any rescue at all is a result of a failure on your
> >part".

This debate reminds me of the time a philosophy prof of mine walked into the
room and said,  "All generalizations are false!"

Myself, I agree with Kirby's school of thought ... sometimes ... and I agree
with Doug's school of thought ... sometimes.

Maybe it's different strokes for different folks ... and different rules for
different goals.  Seems like there should be room under the PW umbrella for
surf crazies *and* people who find rolling (and surfing) anathema.

And, just to make a little more trouble, does anyone recall the risk
homeostasis concept Winters promoted, which would argue that learning to roll
does not make you any safer ... it only makes it possible for you to paddle in
conditions gnarlier than before ... with the *same* level of perceived risk?

-- 
Dave Kruger
Astoria, OR
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