Paddlewisers, I am always disturbed when I read or hear sea kayaking being referred to as flatwater padding. I would hardly consider the open ocean, many bays, and even some larger lakes as flatwater. In fact, the only flatwater I can think of is a small pond on a calm day. The open ocean is the farthest thing from flatwater. There isn't a more dynamic body of water than the ocean. Nowhere else can conditions change so quickly and severely. One moment the water can be calm, and then the next moment a swell coming over a hidden reef can be putting a 6 foot breaking wave on you. Let's not forget those surprise big sets in the surf either. Winds, tides and currents are constantly changing the ocean, and you never can be sure about what you are getting into. Ocean conditions can quickly become challenging and even overwhelming. In addition, when you are out there and things turn bad, you are usually committed. At least with whitewater, what you see is what you get and the shore is usually never very far. There are a lot of whitewater people out there who wouldn't have anything to do with sea kayaking very far off the coast. Most of them don't like the idea of paddling over 10 miles without a current pushing them either. But of course, it is usually the whitewater people who refer to sea kayaking as flatwater paddling. Duane Strosaker <A HREF="http://members.aol.com/pirateseakayaker/index.html">Pirate Sea Kayaker</A> *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
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