Shawn W. Baker wrote: > And there are always that group of intermediate paddlers (myself > included) who have progressed in learning skills rapidly, but have not > had the years of experience (to use a "Doug-ism") think > three-dimensionally. Some of these paddlers go on to become old, expert > paddlers. I want to become one of those people. Some of these paddlers > get too cocky in their perception of their own abilities and get in way > over their heads--this is occurring more and more in WW paddling. I am glad WW paddling was just brought up. I hope this doesn't lead to a string of denials but the fatalities and accidents in WW paddling seem to run the full spectrum of skills with a surprising number of incidents involving the most expert and elite, and to a degree the intemediate pushing his/her skills. In contrast, in sea kayaking there have not been fatalities at the expert/elite level (knock on wood); and the incidents in sea kayaking for the most part have involved beginners; or not even beginners but just the totally uninitiated who grab a kayak and go out early in the season when air is warm and water cold and capsizing and dying from hypothermia. However, I am getting the impression, at least around here, that this may be changing and advanced beginners are beginning to take on more than they may be able to handle. Sea kayaking seems so easy, particularly on a nice day. Trouble is that nice days can turn in a flash to not so nice conditions. There are so many variables and nuances in every aspect of sea kayaking, especially in busy waters with motorboat and commercial traffic (look at http://www.seakayaker.com, the Salty Dog e-mag for a discussion of dealing with traffic; it's under Navigation). Skills need to be really learned and not just read about in a book. Over the last few years, I have run into dozens of advanced beginners (advanced in terms of times paddling) on the water who carry paddle floats but never ever tried them out or think they know self-rescue because they read about how to do it in a book or saw a video. Or have no way of guaging traffic or judging what currents are doing, or deciphering spots where the waters will likely misbehave and rudely surprise them. Sea Kayaker mag is getting more of such wake up calls in articles like that one recently about two advanced beginners who tipped over in cold waters in Maine in the area where ocean and a river meet (I forget the exact spot); they didn't understand what would happen to them when they came out of the shadow created by an island into an area being churned up by wind waves over a sandbar. If you know how to read a chart or just the lay of water, wind and land and how they interact, you can avoid such trouble spots or not be surprised when entering them. Again, sea kayaking looks so easy. And kayaks are often enough sold with little advice in general sporting goods stores. Throw in some breathless article in a general outside-spirit mag like Outside or an airline mag (not Sea Kayaker or this PaddleWise listserv which both are full of warnings) about the thrill of the sport and you have a formula froth with potential chaos. cheers, 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 Wed Feb 23 2000 - 07:52:28 PST
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