Okay, it's all about responsibility. We seem to be agreed, as a list, that our WetOne has a personal responsibility to learn what he needs to learn. It's about individual responsibility. And it's about manufacturer responsibility. If common sense doesn't tell the boat designer and builder, then their attorneys should --- they have to have a means of telling the buyer what the boat is about, what risks are involved, and provide accurate and realistic information about the boat's inherent performance. Whether this includes some ugly decal laminated in the seat of the boat telling the operator that water can kill them --- like the decals (that used to be) on the sun visors in my new car that tell me that the car's safety features can kill me --- or in the product literature or in dialog between the manufacturer and the buyer is an issue for the company and its attorneys to decide, I guess. But it helps WetOne learn. A little. And it's about dealer responsibility. That's a little vague. Most of us seem to feel that the dealer, in addition to being a retailer of products, should also be expected to be an instructor in safety equipment and a guarantor of personal well being of the buyer. A lot of retailers seem to disagree, and some go further and refuse to enter into that kind of dialog, fearing that they will say too little and be held responsible when what little they do say proves legally inadequate following an accident or incident. But Debs' original post also questioned her club's responsibility --- especially in the face of arguably misleading or incomplete information from the manufacturer (just what do you mean by "float"?), and from the retailer (what safety equipment?). Maybe this WetOne issue is also about community responsibility. By banding together in local groups or in electronic groups, do we not also assume some of the responsibility for our membership? Isn't that what PaddleWise is all about? The sharing of valid and useful information among paddlers, not top down but across the membership? We, as groups of sea kayakers, whether local or national or worldwide or electronic, take on some share in the responsibility for creating a paradigm shift from WetOnes to DryOnes. So, to Debs' question: should we continue to support the sea kayaking community, even if the retailers or manufacturers fail to tell the potential buyer what he or she needs to know? Yes, and all the more so, if that's the case. This is the part of Debs' initial scenario that we seem to be walking around, concentrating on establishing responsibility at the material or design or retailing level. The down side: is it wrong that our self-assumed community responsibility for morphing WetOnes into DryOnes lifts some of the responsibility for advocating safe paddling from the retailers or even the designers and manufacturers? Possibly, but it's clear that the information is not getting out to a lot of WetOnes and potential WetOnes, in any case. Don't we, as a sea kayaking community, have some share in the collective responsibility to reach out to these new folks, serve as a resource and an example, and demonstrate to them the individual and collective responsibility which we advocate for ourselves? Go to the demos, Debs. Share with the newbies what they can accept in the way of information and personal responsibility. Tell them about your club. Tell them how you paddle. It won't work for all of them, but there will be a lot more DyrOnes as a result. Good on ya'! Jack Martin *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
Jack, Thanks for a wonderful post that brings us back to the core of the incident Debbie ran across: --Should she or any of us continue to go out our way to help instill in others advice that will make their paddling experience safer and rewarding? --Should we go on regardless of mixed track records and restraints on dealers in doing so and the mixed receptiveness of eager newcomers to listen and learn? Some of us will continue to push on this. I know you do when, for example, you organize coldwater workshops and Debbie does when she has people practice rescues on trips, for instance. Both of you do via PaddleWise and she in her newsletter and in her fierce devotion to that Atlantic Sea Kayakers booth at Paddlesport. I myself am at this 365 days a year in person, print and cyberspace. But there are frustrations. I know you have run into one of late and Debbie has because of this particular WetOne situation. All I can say, as a person who often is disappointed on this, is stay the course. 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/ ***************************************************************************
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