Re: [Paddlewise] Now I'm curious: how dangerous _is_ kayaking?

"Dr. Peter Rand" wrote:
> 
> The thread on safety has got me curious about how risky kayaking really is.
> How does it compare to say bicycling, skiing, motorcycling, parachuting,
> hiking, other outdoor activities, etc?

Like a lot of other things, it depends on what type of skiing, motorcycling,
hiking, etc., you are comparing it to.

My subjective scan:  if you avoid tide races and surf zones, and are a
novice/beginner sea kayaker, it is similar to hiking and biking in risk, with
one important difference:  in hiking and biking, it is easy to STOP the
activity and sort out your choices.  Many times sea kayaking, you do not have
that choice, and can not get off the water readily.  Consequence:  a storm
which would only be an annoyance if hiking might be very threatening if you can
not get off the water.  This makes the risk in sea kayaking much more
insidious:  you can get into trouble and be unaware you are in trouble until
you are in a situation where you can not escape it.  In hiking, you can STOP. 
Sometimes in sea kayaking you can not.

If you are an adrenaline junkie, and train for surf zones and tide races -- and
regularly expose yourself to them -- it is maybe as dangerous as off-road
motorcycling, and similar to sport rock climbing, but not as dangerous as
alpine climbing, with its higher objective hazards (stonefall, avalanches,
etc.).  Maybe about as risky as glacier-walking such as people do out here to
climb the "easy" routes on Mt Baker, Mt Adams, Mt Hood, and Mt Rainier.

I don't think anybody has any actuarial data to compare sea kayaking to other
sports, because accident/injury/fatality information is mostly anecdotal, and
there is no one (to my knowledge) "tracking" accidents, unlike the case for
North American mountaineering, which is summarized each year by the AAC.

-- 
Dave Kruger
Astoria, OR
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