Glenn Stauffer wrote: > > I, for one, would refuse to paddle with someone who did not have a PFD. I > would even feel very uncomfortable if they weren't wearing it. I don't care > how talented a swimmer a person claims to be; a knock on the head or rough > weather and a confused situation can change all that in a hurry and an > unprotected swimmer can put everyone else at risk. I think you have to make room for exceptions. Paddling with Maligiaq for example when he was here in NYC in October. I wrote an article for Atlantic Coastal Kayaker (December 1999) that began thus: ----- A dozen of us were about to head out from the Downtown Boathouse in lower Manhattan for a kayak trip to the Statue of Liberty when Cindy Cole took me aside. "I bought a PFD for Maligiaq; does he need to wear it?" she asked. I had just witnessed a half hour rolling demo in which Maligiaq Padilla, the 1998 Greenland National Kayak Champion (at just 16!), had startled even some of the most respected rolling dervishes in the Northeast. "Nah," I replied. "He's his own personal flotation device. Just drop it into his kayak in case the Coast Guard pulls us over." ----- It is simply not in his waterborne culture to wear one and I don't feel it should be forced on someone who is truly one with the sea. These Greenlanders have demonstrated they are a breed apart and should be respected for that. For example, they don't wear wet or dry suits in the sense we do. One of us might be leading a trip in the dead of winter on the Maine Coast, in which surely the prescribed cloth should be a dry suit with lots of insulation underneath. One of them might show without a PFD and wearing a tulliag (I think that's the name) the one piece hooded garment that serves as both garb and spray skirt. I don't think you would want to disqualify them from the trip. I noticed in Amphibian Man that Petersen has nothing on his hands while paddling among ice floes in water that would have to be at 31 degrees or less. They are different. 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 Thu Mar 02 2000 - 07:05:21 PST
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