Hi Phil, Been there, done that. I took a newbie out kayaking 1.5 months ago. He was great at boat handling, but had no rough water, cold water, or rescue experience. Nothing bad happened, but I realized that it very well could have. It prompted me to action, though. The past 6 weeks, we've spent going over more rough water boating skills, cold water gear, rescues, and pool rolls. Thanks to all the P'Wisers who replied to me after the post about that original trip and encouraged me to talk to him about the risks we had faced, and how to be better prepared for them next time. > If I can offer any advice from what I have learned, it's to never trust >a newbie, discuss everything, and plan-not hope for the best. Agree 100%. It's not that I don't trust newbies (period). It's that I don't trust newbies to know everything they need to know. I know, I was there 3 years ago. I wish someone would have taken me under their wing and "mistrusted" me and then fed me some good knowledge. >I know, however, that it could have been much worse. I shudder thinking >of "what if" I didn't show up and he and his friend tried it together. >I'm glad everything turned out okay. Well, that trip sucked for you, but you potentially saved his life by your presence and the generousity of sharing your gear. >Chalk this up as an experience where the watergods let me off >with a slap on the wrist. I know it could have been worse. Everyone else, listen up; learn from others' experiences! Shawn -- Shawn W. Baker 0 46°53'N © 2000 ____©/______ 114°06'W ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^\ ,/ /~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^ baker_at_montana.com 0 http://www.geocities.com/shawnkayak/ *************************************************************************** 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 Fri May 05 2000 - 08:45:12 PDT
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