Sea kayaking to the outside observer looks deceptively easy. Maybe when people ask, "Are they tippy?" instead of telling them the truth, we should reply, "Yes, they are, but with some dedicated practice, it is very easy." Then, along the way to learning to paddle the 'tippy' boat, they might absorb more skills like navigation, weather and conditions awareness, rescues, and general safety. So, how do we as responsible kayakers go about helping these outside newcomers to become safe paddlers? Surely warning each other (PaddleWisers) about the risks is not going to help the average "airline mag" reading beginner. For example: last summer, Costco had rotomolded sea kayaks for about $900. It appeared to be an average shape/size with modest outfitting, but they did not even have PFD's on sale that week. I was fuming, but my wife wouldn't let me talk to the local manager (not that that would have done any good). What can we do? Shawn ralph diaz wrote: > 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. -- Shawn W. Baker 0 46°53'N © 1999 ____©/______ 114°06'W ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^\ ,/ /~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^ baker_at_montana.com 0 http://www.missoulaconcrete.com/shawn/ *************************************************************************** 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 Thu Feb 24 2000 - 07:39:14 PST
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