Doug Lloyd wrote: > > RALPH said: > > >I guess a lot is riding on the word "ultimate" and I think it forgets > >something critical: A new paddler is very much like a baby. He or she > >is like a sponge absorbing everything she or he reads, hears and sees. > >What he or she reads, hears and sees comes from the retailer, tradeshow, > >manufacturer, magazines/cyber-lists and first hand observation of others > >on the water who are more advanced than them. <snip rest> > > Good post Ralph! A little more "down-to-earth" than my abstract > "out-of-body-experience" post! I've only kept the above portion of your > post, just to highlight again the word "ultimate". Just before I posted my > message last night, I went back quickly and placed that word in there so > nobody would think I was negating responsibility from the tradesport (etc). > I guess you still took exception. Let me give you the context of my comment. It is all of matter of balance and shared responsibility. Some lies with the new person who is in need of the information and some lies with those in a position to help out and send the person off in the right direction. Having established that, I hope we can move on to other subjects. I seem to recall your talking about the dangers way out there and I assume you meant in rough waters far from shore. But so many accidents involving seakayakers usually are closer to shore where water, wind and earth meet. One particular danger zone is when coming out from behind the shelter of an island or headland and being hit broadside by wind and waves. Dozens of incidents have occured in such areas. I can name six pretty well known ones which resulted in fatalities or near fatalities. One service PaddleWise can provide is to point out that danger. A lot of paddlers, from all the accidents that happen in such situations, are not aware of the forces at play in such areas. One piece of sound advice is to avoid such situations. But there are some decent strategies to prevent being knocked over if you do feel a need to continue your trip, strategies that won't tax your bracing and rolling skills. One that I have found is to move away from the challenging area. This may sound wimpy but it works. The wrong way is to try to hug the shore line and then go into the open area being racked by winds and waves. The transition from shelter to exposure is so abrupt that you may wind up dumping unless your bracing is sharp and you quarter just right into the forces. The better strategy is not to paddle into the area of sharp transition at all. Instead seek where the transition is less abrupt and forceful and that usually lies downwind from the island. Say that you are behind an island that is sheltering you from winds and waves coming from the north and you basically are traveling west to east. Instead of staying on your west to east course close to shore and risk the abrupt hit by the northern winds and waves, head south a bit away from the island. As you move in that direction you are getting away from the abrupt transition zone. You will still get lots of wind but when you turn to move from west to east again you won't have the sheering effect you get if paddling close to the island and into the exposed wind and waves. I bet the disruptive forces are 50 per cent less powerful and destabilizing in this more gradual transition zone and that can make a difference between a capsize and paddling on. Also if you find that things are still too dicey in that more gradual area, you have a better chance of changing your mind and retreating than if you get hit in the more abrupt zone where you may not have as much boat control. Going down range that way has the danger of being blown away and not be able to get back to the shelter of the island. But if you do this gingerly, this won't happen. Also, it is, as said above, a good way to test whether you want to continue and instead retreat without committing yourself to harsher forces. >From what I have seen, a lot of paddlers don't realize this. Certainly the accident reports underline the lack of knowledge of this. I never see any of the sea kayak manuals addressing this nor instructors bringing this up. And yet it is such a common area for accidents that are avoidable with some forethought. 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 Sat Feb 26 2000 - 06:47:07 PST
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