Debs, Please don't take this wrongly. And you know I don't mean this in a critical way. But when confronted with someone who is potentially hypothermic or in other danger after a capsize it is best to say "screw it" to retrieving the kayak or any gear and deal with the person's problem first quickly. The tendency is always toward saving the property. Now this was not an on-the-water situation and the guy wasn't in danger of drowning or getting colder necessarily as he would have had you run across him on the water while he was floating around. So it may not have been as clear or urgent. But he was wet and cold and needed warming up. I have seen the smartest and the brightest and most skilled kayakers go after saving the equipment without fully assessing and attending to the needs of the victim. It is a long story which I am certain I already told here but quickly it involved my wife doing rescue practice in low 60s degree water. Her boat's bulkheads had failed, the boat began to sink. The skilled instructors concentrated on saving the boat from sinking for 45 minutes while she floated and hung on to someone's kayak and slowly got hypothermic. They should have gotten her up on a deck at a minimum or taken her immediately to shore about a quarter of a mile instead of looking after that silly boat. Meanwhile the guys were in wet suits and should have know better. I learned in my first year the screw-the-gear-and-see-to-the-victim approach. A canoe went over in a round-Manhattan trip and we all started chasing after their gear. But a sharp eyed really savvy paddler spotted that the canoeists, who were also chasing after their floating gear, had their PFDs fully unzipped. He shouted to them to zip up before doing anything else. It was a real important lesson for me. Again, Debs, please don't take this wrongly. ralph -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 Mon Mar 06 2000 - 04:19:44 PST
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