Richard Kemmer wrote: [snip] > Like Doug, I ruminated on the La Nina expedition article -- especially the > common-sense policy of deferring to the least competent or least courageous > (least foolhardy?) paddler. That should be the first commandment for every > sea kayaker paddling in a group. [snip] Nice post, Rick. I was moved by your comments about the Shumans. I haven't had time to read the La Nina article yet, but the idea of being guided by the "weakest" member of the group strikes me as so fundamentally right, I very much like your comment that is should be the basis for all paddling groups. I've felt hampered by slower paddlers and wanted to move on (not that I'm a great paddler, mind you!). I'm going to strive to avoid that impulse. It should be an incentive to two things, perhaps: (1) choose your paddling partners according to the type of paddling you want to do, and if it turns out that you made a mistake (*you* made the mistake), adjust your expectations to the paddlers you are with (love the one you're with <g>); and (2) if there are people in your group who can't keep up, want to go back, etc. -- remember: there is a reason to be out there, and it is not necessarily always to be *paddling* -- it's to enjoy the spot on the planet that you happen to occupy at that moment: slow down and smell the roses. Thanks for a nice post. I enjoyed it. Mark *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Thu Jul 13 2000 - 09:56:36 PDT
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:30:27 PDT