Debs, Good for you for handling the Wet One situation and for the follow through with the retailer. I once had an experience with a family who had purchased 2 Old Town Loons from a retailer here in California. Luckily the store had told them that they should take a class and the family did follow through on the advice. I am told by other retailers that their customers sometimes won't take a class with a new kayak even if the store gives it to them. They brought the loons to a protected flatwater lesson. We ran through the strokes including basic bracing. Hip snaps were difficult and there were no sprayskirts because the boats were doubles with one large cockpit, more like a canoe with a little bit of deck folded over on each end. We played around with each person taking a turn standing up in the kayak and really pushing the stability. Everyone was in wetsuits (because the water in this area is 55 degrees) and PFDs (because we always wear them) and we wanted to get wet in this lesson. Finally we went ahead and dumped one of the Loons in waist deep water to see what kind of rescues we could do. The kayak had been "guaranteed to float" I guess because of the foam core construction. Even though it would float by itself, it floated just below the surface of the water, neutrally buoyant, and dark green like the color of the deep cold bay. If any one of us put any body weight on it, it sank until we moved off of it and then it would come back up. We tried canoe rescues but found that the upper deck of these "kayaks" acted too much like buckets scooping about 50 gallons of water in one end. We tried kayak rescues like the T rescue, Paddle Float, and Side by Side but in every case the cavernous cockpit allowed too much water into the kayak to be able to maneuver it. If anyone has successfully rescued an Old Town Loon double from the water, please let me know the proper technique. The parents were very disappointed because they had intended to take these Old Town Loons out onto Monterey Bay eventually but after the lesson they realized how dangerous the kayaks would be in open water. I am glad that they took the lesson before they took the kayak out onto open water. They told me that the sales person had spent one and a half hours teaching them how to tie the kayaks onto their SUV. It makes me think that the salesperson would have spent more time on water safety issues if they had understood the risks themselves. I think the salesperson thought that the kayak did have the proper flotation from the materials that Old Town distributes. (What is "Positive Flotation" can anyone mention how high in the water column that means to them?) The family and I talked about float bags for the bow and stern but there is still going to be that enormous cockpit to deal with in the case of a capsize. Not all sales people are savvy paddlers. Not all marketing staff in kayak manufacturing companies are water people. It is up to us out here in the trenches to protect the sport we love through education. I am so tempted to end this here with one of those chain letter type lines like: "Pass this on to 20 of your friends right away for......." but I don't know exactly how a chain letter ends, I never read that far I guess. Anyway, thanks Debs for your helping out the paddling community. Thanks to all of you who are helping pass the word on water safety. Jan -----Original Message----- From: Reeves, Debbie (Debbie) <dreeves_at_lucent.com> To: 'paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net' <paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net> Date: Sunday, March 05, 2000 5:05 PM Subject: [Paddlewise] Nearly Fatal It's 3 a.m. and I give up on my sleeplessness caused by the incidents on 3/3. Here's what happened: It was a very windy day here, the perfect weather to do some test paddling for a potentially new camping kayak. I had been waiting patiently for some strong wind because all boats paddle good in nice weather, its only when the weather goes south that they start to stand apart. I took along jugs of water to simulate gear load, picked up a couple of boats at our local kayak store and drove the short distance to a large (salt water) river. As I am unloading the car of boats and gear in the parking lot, from behind me I hear a very soft, quivering voice say, "Can you help me?" I turn to see a young man, quite pale, dripping wet from head to toe, his clothes sagging with the weight of water trapped in cotton. I asked "Are you o.k.?" He said, "I took my new kayak out and it flipped over. Can you help me get it?" I asked him if he had any clothes to change into; he hesitated and then said "No, let's go get my boat." I made the assumption that the boat was on or near shore, and he had dumped while attempting to get out of the boat. When we got to the shoreline I see the boat floating upside down, keel just at the waterline (not above the waterline), way out in the river. The 15-20 mph winds were from the west, blowing it straight downriver toward the bay. So TheWetOne & I rush back to my car, I hurridly grab what I need, toss it in a boat and we carry down to the water. In the span of 1-1/2 minutes we were getting my boat, his boat has been blown another 150 ft downriver, but has now taken a turn for shore. Seeing this, I am quite relieved and decide it will be easier for me to wade/swim out and pull it in. As we get down to that area and I wade out, the water turns out to be quite shallow, never going over my thighs (water temp 44F). The first thing I do is clip on a bow line. Then I try to roll the boat over by grabbing the edges of the cockpit (I tried both from the upwind side and the downwind side-both to no avail). Failing that, I wrap the bow line around my body and try pulling it toward shore but cannot budge it. This struggle goes on for 3 or 4 minutes as I make little progress. Again I try rolling it over, this time trying to position my knees lower to give me more of a lift. Failure again. I look toward shore and the only person is TheWetOne, now shivering uncontrollably. I yelled that I couldn't get it any further in unless I had help flipping it over. He came jogging out yelping as each foot touched the water. We both grab the cockpit and are barely able to get it up. We keep going with this until the waters starts to flow out of the cockpit. At this point I tell TheWetOne to go get changed since I can manage it. Over the next 10 minutes I continue emptying the boat and pulling it toward shore. Very slow going. The boat is an Oldtown Loon, probably 14 ft. No bulkheads. No visible floatation. Nothing on deck other than a fishing pole under the bungees. Once his boat is up on the beach, I go back to the parking lot to find that his car is gone. I now make the assumption that he had no spare clothes in his car and had to go home to change. I am so angry, I am dizzy. Waiting for TheWetOne to return, I continue preparing for my test paddles. After loading the first boat, I get in to adjust the footpegs. There are none. What? I get out and look in the cockpit. Right. No footpegs. Great. Now I am really pissed. This was a designated "demo" boat and it has no footpegs. TheWetOne returns and asks if there is anything he give me or do for me. I said, "Yes. Join a club. You will learn a lot and be safer." I gave him our group brochure and told him that if he contacted the store, they could give him additional clubs info. As I help him load his stuff back in the car, I ask him some questions. Here are the answers. He had purchased his boat the week before and was never told anything about the hazards of cold water. He had no previous water sports experience. He was told that his boat had "built-in" flotation and all he needed was a PFD. He did not know anything about sprayskirts, pumps or paddlefloats. Since it was a sunny day, he thought it would be perfect to go out and try fishing from his new, stable kayak. He did not realize that wind would have any effect on the craft. As he had gotten off-shore, he had quickly gotten into trouble, loosing control as the waves kept washing into the cockpit until it finally flipped him over. Fortunately, he had been wearing his PFD and was able to make it back to shore. After he leaves, I decide to go through with the test paddle even though it will be impossible for me to accurately access the boat in these conditions with no foot pegs. But it will let me blow out an awful lot of steam. After zig-zagging the waterway to simulate beam seas, following seas, etc., I head back to the put-in to try the other boat. Shifting the gear load to the new boat, I am dismayed to realize the it is missing the neoprene rear hatch cover (the lid was there but fit loosly). With anger returning, I head off shore and have a fun time in this boat zig-zagging around to see how it manages. At times I have trouble holding onto the paddle with gusts at 35-40 mph. With following seas, I am able to hold the boat totally on its side without my blade in the water. Now I'm feeling much better. I finish and load the car but dread going back to the store to let the store owner know what has taken place. Arriving back at the store, the "yard" guys are waiting to take the boats off the car and lock them up for the night and can go home. I let them know the problems with the demo boats and they apologize for not having checked the boats first. The owner is just leaving when I catch him. We sit down and I relay my afternoon's experience with him (omitting the problems with his demo boats). He is shocked, taken aback but at times becomes (in my opinion) a little defensive of their store practices and of the manufacturers. I suggest that because of shere sales volume and busyness (sp) of the store, perhaps it was difficult to depend on someone covering the basic safety info with new boat owners. Perhaps I could write something up as a 1 page flyer that could be handed to the customers with every boat purchase. I'm told that the manufacturer tapes safety info in every boat, besides, I am reminded, the store sells videos and books that cover all aspects of kayaking. I am told that new boat owners aren't interested in hearing safety tips; they are too focused on their new stuff and can't/won't listen to you. The owner states that he will communicate the event to the store staff in their next meeting. I never hear what will change in their selling process, but don't feel comfortable in pushing the issue. For the next 2 days I struggle with this. At the Paddlesport show at the end of March, probably 2,000-5,000 boats will be sold over a 3 day period, probably 65-70% of them being "recreational" kayaks. In discussing thoughts I've had to take proactive steps to reduce the number of incidents, everyone I talk to tells me to forget it. The manufacturers don't want it, the resellers don't want it, the consumer doesn't want it. I wonder, should our club continue to participate in the show - with such enormous amounts of obvious negligence? Right now my answer is a tentative yes; perhaps attendees visiting our table will hear some safety info, perhaps they will decide to join the group and read the informative articles in the newsletter, perhaps they will have the opportunity to attend a group trip and receive paddling tips. Perhaps. Discouraged in Sandy Hook, NJ Debbie Reeves *************************************************************************** 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/ *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** 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 - 18:51:08 PST
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