Nick Von Robison said: >>>I did my first dark paddle last night, solo, something I've been mentally gearing up to for a few months. I put this under the heading "risky business">>> <snip> Great description Nick. I've done just about every kind of paddling while under night time conditions (storms, swell, surf, tide races, etc). I have not done rock gardens in the dark on purpose (just in a night time landing emergency), but I understand the Tsunami Rangers do it. My most favorite night paddling activity is as you describe -- going out off shore a bit, in nice calm conditions. Nothing compares for a change of pace. Our club schedules group paddles in the off season on full moon nights -- they are a real hoot (pardon the pun). You sound like you approached the whole thing from the point of view of making yourself visible. This is a must, as we all are responsible for engendering responsibility and respect in terms of what other boaters see us doing, and the authorities -- thank you for the responsibility exhibited in your post. A couple of years ago, a BCU coach here in Victoria led some course participants out for a little night action amongst the Gulf Islands. Unfortunately it was done in a relatively congested area for marine traffic. There were problems, errors in judgment, presumptions -- the usual goof ups that can happen when someone with poor people skills is leading people into risky type behavior. I heard that the next day, the group took a BC ferry back to Vancouver Island. Unfortunately, these guys happened upon the same ferry that they had "crowded" on the previous night. Apparently, the ferry Captain came down from the bridge to personally reprimand the star coach -- I don't think is was too cordial a conversation! (BTW, recently this same coach was reported to the Coast Guard by some clients for inadequate equipment on a "paid-for-hire" trip -- some guys should just stick to paddling for themselves, and not do it as business). I had a bad experience in Active Pass (a very fast moving tidal pass used as a marine highway) one late evening. As soon as I get up enough nerve to post it, I will. BC'in Ya Doug Lloyd *************************************************************************** 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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