RE: [Paddlewise] Paddling Formations

From: Melissa <bonnyweeboaty_at_yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 4 Aug 2000 18:02:20 -0700
 Aaron said:

>
>                ^
>                ^    Direction of Travel
>                ^
>
>                XX
>            XX           XX
>        XX                            XX
>

and Dana replied:


  X X
XX      XX
  XX
   X

and Mark added:


          ^
          |        ^
          v        |        ^                                
                   v        |        ^                             Wind
direction if not head on or
                            v        |                        
 <------------
                                     v                            
 directly
behind.
          ^
          |        ^
          v        |        ^
                   v        |        ^
                            v        |
                                     v

etc...

I'm glad I paddle mostly solo, and when I'm with a group, it's never more
than three or four.  I can certainly see the need for larger groups to
keep themselves more or less organized and keeping track of each other,
but I still can't get my mind around the idea of paddling with such a
large group - especially in a wilderness setting.  It just wouldn't be
*wilderness* anymore.

I also agree with Ralph's comment, that a bit of wind and current could
seriously disrupt a nice neat formation, and perhaps *spitting distance*
would be a more practical solution, especially at night.

Another thing...  No matter how organized and well planned various
formations and potential rescue scenarios are, a sudden severe storm
could render each person essentially *on their own* - no matter the size
and experience of the group.  Though good planning, careful listening to
weather forecasts, and a personal sense of weather shifts can reduce the
risk of such a situation, these things do happen, because weather doesn't
always cooperate with forecasts.
  
My favorite formation:

                               
             ^   <------ direction of boaty

                   X   <------  Whale friend
             X    <-----  me

Melissa    

***************************************************************************
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 - 22:41:19 PDT

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:30:29 PDT