I think your formation is a good one, but perhaps not strictly necessary. Forming buddy pairs is essential, as is the need for all to be aware of the others via peripheral vision. No pair of paddlers should stray far from what they perceive to be the main body. Visibility would be improved by using light sources in front and back, but this too is not strictly necessary. Since the leaders are necessarily watching compass and chart, they should not be responsible for keeping track of those behind. If the followers feel the leaders are moving too quiclky, they should articulate this early on. Group cohesion is a prime consideration in night paddling, and must be maintained by people communicating with one another. One very useful device, which is guaranteed to keep the group together if used fairly frequently, is to assign each member of the group a number -- then "count off" every five minutes or so. Bob V *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Fri Aug 04 2000 - 14:51:05 PDT
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