[Paddlewise] Philosophies on Risk Re: Sculling Brace

KiAyker_at_aol.com wrote:
> 
> In a message dated 2/21/00 11:03:40 PM Pacific Standard Time,
> dlloyd_at_bc.sympatico.ca writes:
> 
> <<  What I find difficult to understand is those on
>  this list who do get out into some more difficult conditions, usually
>  pull-back before the going gets really rough (which is good on them), yet
>  give others a hard time and call the need to use some of these skills like
>  sculling and rolling as a sign of some kind of failure. >>
> 
>    Doug,
> 
>    I feel I need to respond to this as I believe you are still smarting from
> my remarks on an earlier post calling the need to do a rescue the result of
> failure. This comment was certainly not directed at you. I tend to be in the
> same group as you and Duane in that I too enjoy pushing the envelope and will
> consequently capsize on a regular basis. I still consider this to be a type
> of failure, in that I was testing my limits and I found them. But in this
> case failure is not necessarily a bad thing. If I am testing the breaking
> point of an object by stressing it, do we not refer to the point of breaking
> as a failure?
>    But this is all besides the point. In the context of this, and other
> newsgroups, when I respond to a question I try to take into consideration who
> I am talking to. I do not want to give beginners the impression that what
> they need to do to learn this sport is throw their boat into some hairy
> situation and try to survive it. What MOST paddlers need to do is to practice
> NOT capsizing. They need to learn how to walk before they run. The perfect
> example of this is the recent discussion about not being able to roll at the
> end of the day because the folks are too tired. I cannot ever remember being
> too tired to perform a roll. Obviously these folks need to work on their
> roll. I do not, for the most part, direct my responses to the likes of you.
> Once someone reaches your level they certainly do not need my help. But
> please try to understand that the less experienced paddlers still need to
> work on the basics, and for them, under normal circumstances, needing to be
> rescued is the result of a failure on their part.
>    I said it, I believe it, and if this offends somebody - too bad.
> 
> Scott
> So.Cal.

Everyone should indeed choose to paddle as they please and are prepared
for.  Doug certainly is among the most skilled and experienced paddlers
on the PaddleWise list.  Although things have gone wrong on at least one
of his trips as he pushes the envelop, he can handle it for the most
part and has the calculus of risk well worked out in his mind and in the
seat of his pants.

Having said that, I think Scott also has a point.  It is not, from my
reading of what Scott says above, an anti-Doug point or an anti-risk or
anti-individual paddling philosophy.  It is just a heads-up that is
capsulized in his statement "when I respond to a question I try to take
into consideration who I am talking to. I do not want to give beginners
the impression that what they need to do to learn this sport is throw
their boat into some hairy situation and try to survive it."

Part of the "problem" of PaddleWise is that it houses both elite
paddlers of long experience and high skill with newcomers and others of
lesser skill and experience.  Sometimes in the wake of telling a tale of
a risky situation overcomed through will and skill, a euphoria emerges
in the listener who might overlook that will and skill and think it is
okay to try the same without the will and skill.

Doug has often gone through great pains to say something along the lines
"Hey, this is me.  I know my turf.  I have the skills and a lust for
testing myself and these in dicey situations.  Don't do as I do unless
you are prepared to deal with the situation if it goes awry."  Trouble
is that Doug is so good at telling his tales of adventure that it is
easy for some paddlers to be lulled into not taking into account the
experience and skills that allow Doug to survive and thrive in the
waters he likes to paddle.

I am reminded of something that Dr. Hannes Lindemann said when I
interviewed him for my newsletter back in 1993 regarding his crossing
the Atlantic in a double kayak 40 years earlier.  Certainly what
Lindemann did would make Doug and all of us blanche.  Here is how the
paragraph went in my article.

"Dr. Lindemann attaches great importance to this strength (me: I was
referring to the previous paragraph about his small-boating skills par
excellance).  In our interview it came out during a question I asked
regarding how he sees sea kayaking today.  He used the question to focus
on the issue of required skills. While he is happy to see a resurgence
in the sport he feels that many kayakers venture out unprepared.  'I
think people want to do things with a bang.  They go too fast, rah rah. 
They are suicidal'  Regarding his own perilous voyage, he said 'It is
alright to attempt things when you have the experience.' "

Doug and Lindemann through good story telling make the adventures
alluring but with their easy familiarity with their surroundings
inadvertently hid the deep skills that allow them to survive there. 
Their element of "risk" is greatly reduced by that familiarity.  It
doesn't hurt, as Scott has attempted, to keep reminding ourselves of
that as a reality check on enthusiastic imitation.

ralph diaz



-- 
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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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