>From: "Seng, Dave" <Dave_Seng_at_health.state.ak.us> > Last summer while returning from a multiday fishing/skiff trip I >encountered a solo kayaker about 25 miles south of Juneau. He waved his >arms and I slowly approached - he didn't speak English very well and my >Swedish(?) isn't very good, but I eventually understood that he wanted to >know whether the inlet a mile distant was Tracy Arm - I told him no, that >it >was another 20 or so miles further and then, reconsidering, gave him my >chart. > >Dave Seng You're more charitable (chart-it-able?) than I Dave. About four years ago I did a week long trip in Clayoquot Sound with a friend. For those not from the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America, I'll explain that this area is a complicated archipelago of islands, with strong tides, exposed open coast paddling, offshore reefs and rocks, muscular currents, and limited landing places. On our last night out we tucked into a little bay to camp, and were hailed by the male half of another kayaking couple. They were on their first day out from Tofino and planned to do more or less the trip we had done to Hotsprings Cove. Buddy asked if we could tell him where they were. "Sure" I said naively "Just bring your chart on over and I'll point it out". Turned out they had no charts for this area - they had made a last minute change of plans about where they where going to paddle, and as Buddy said, he felt he'd already spent enough on charts (for the other area!) The unspoken implication hung in the air that since we were on our way back, we should be nice guys and make them a present of one set of our charts (naturally, both of us each had our own full set). I didn't bite. Beside my natural Scottish reluctance to part with more than $100.00 worth of charts, I didn't want to detract from their sense of discovery and exploration (or to interfere with natural selection)! Call me selfish, but Buddy venturing deliberately into a situation like this did not bring forth the same urge to be of help that I usually feel when folks have unwittingly got themselves into difficulties. Philip Torrens N49°16' W123°06' ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
Hi Philip and All, > -----Original Message----- > From: owner-paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net > [mailto:owner-paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net]On Behalf Of Philip Torrens > I didn't bite. Beside my > natural Scottish > reluctance to part with more than $100.00 worth of charts, I > didn't want to > detract from their sense of discovery and exploration (or to > interfere with > natural selection)! > Call me selfish, but Buddy venturing deliberately into a > situation like this > did not bring forth the same urge to be of help that I usually feel when > folks have unwittingly got themselves into difficulties. Good for you Philip! In the end you did him a favor. Years ago I used to be a full time guide. Of course not only did I carry gear for my self but I always tossed in a couple of extra pieces of "spare gear". I used to loan out this gear at the first sign of discomfort from the patrons, you know the ones that decided they didn't need all the stuff on the equipment list. What I learned was that pretty soon the group starts thinking of my boat as a wardrobe and I'm left without much to wear that's dry in camp. I eventually wised up and started loaning my gear only when it was really needed, rather than at the first opportunity. People need to take responsibility for their actions. Happy Paddling, -- Rob Cookson 3 Hats Design INTERNET PRINT ILLUSTRATION 5201 15 Ave NW Suite 220 Seattle, WA 98107 206.851.8202 direct line 206.784.1641 main office phone 206.784.2231 main office fax mailto:rob_at_3hats.com http://www.3hats.com > *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
On Fri, 5 May 2000, Rob Cookson wrote: > What I learned was that pretty soon the group starts thinking of my boat as > a wardrobe and I'm left without much to wear that's dry in camp. About a year ago I saw a post in rec.boats.paddle about this. One whitewater paddler carries spare clothes in a bag. But it's "The ugly suit" The suit is something like lemon yellow pants, a plaid sport jacket, and a pink sweater. If someone needs to wear "the ugly suit" they always make a bar stop on the way back to pick up the shuttle. The person wearing "the ugly suit" is required to join the others in the bar. The owner of "The ugly suit" found people only needed to borrow it once before bringing their own gear. Admittedly this works better for whitewater than on an overnight trip sea kayak trip. Although 100% wool clothing might do the trick on an overnight. kirk *************************************************************************** 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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