At 7:45 PM -0500 3/5/00, Reeves, Debbie (Debbie) wrote: >It's 3 a.m. and I give up on my sleeplessness caused by the incidents on >3/3. Here's what happened: > Unfortunately, there is a financial disincentive for retailers to stress safety. Many people coming in looking for a boat, are probably a little bit scared about safety to begin with. They may had experience in a canoe where they felt like they were going to tip over or actually did. Others may not have even that much experience with boats. Many people are afraid of the water, they don't know what is under the surface and don't want to find out. So, the retailer has to assure these potential customers that kayaking is safe. And it generally is, so they aren't lying. But, after convincing the customer that kayaking is safe, how do you now say, "But, you really need to be careful..." without making kayaking sound dangerous and potentially losing the sale? Most retailers probably assume that people are smart enough not to go out when the weather is nasty. When it is truly nasty, that may be a safe assumption, but there are gray areas. If it 70°F and the sun is shining, most people would not consider the weather nasty. But if the water is 45°F and the wind is blowing against a strong current, the conditions could be called bad for an inexperienced paddler. How, in the relatively short time a retailer has with a customer, can they teach him what constitutes bad conditions. Some of us have been paddling for 20 years and can still be fooled. The morally appropriate technique may be to try to terrify the customer and see if they still want to kayak after hearing some horror stories. But, this will probably not sell as many kayaks. Kayak retail is a marginal enough business as it is without scaring away customers prepared to part with their money. Most honorable retailers are probably prepared to tell the occasional customer that the sport is probably not right for them. But, where do you draw the line? Who bares the responsibility for the safety of the customer? The boat manufacturer, the designer, the retailer, or the customer him/herself? This list serve group broke away from wave~length (RIP) primarily because one individual thought that the designers, manufactures and retailers were selling an unsafe product and it was his duty to save the customers of the world from the conspiracy. To a certain extent "sponson" Tim had a point. Kayaks can get you into deep trouble very quickly. But, it also a very pleasant sport with a relatively easy learning curve that can be enjoyed safely by the most inexperienced people. One of the things I find most facinating about kayaking is I can go out on the local lake for a pleasant little paddle one day and the next go crashing through gnarly surf. And use the same boat to do it. How do we introduce people to this sport while keeping them safe? How do you outline the risks of the sport without making it sound more dangerous than it really is? Is there one script that could be read to every person purchasing a kayak that will go far enough in reducing the risks? I don't have any answers to these questions although I suspect that the answer to last question is "No". I don't think there is any one thing you can say to everyone which will have the desired effect. Everyone who ever dies in a kayaking incident is a victim of inadequate education. If they could do it again, they would probably avoid the deadly situation. However, the retailer is going to go out of business if they say the one thing guaranteed to keep the customer from dying in a kayak: "Never get in a kayak." This does not condone saying nothing but it does mean they can never say enough. Nick Schade Guillemot Kayaks 10 Ash Swamp Rd Glastonbury, CT 06033 (860) 659-8847 Schade_at_guillemot-kayaks.com http://www.guillemot-kayaks.com/ >>>>"It's not just Art, It's a Craft!"<<<< *************************************************************************** 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 Tue Mar 07 2000 - 08:46:49 PST
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