Before we get too far afield on this, I would like to get back to some things I read in all the thoughtful contributions to this string of postings. I forget who said this but someone went back to First Aid 101 and its first principle, assess the overall situation before deciding on a course of action. So, for example, if you come upon a victim lying unconscious and a swollen river is rising to where he is, you don't worry about broken bones, wounds, etc., you remove the person from the looming danger; this may or may not involve a risk to yourself...you have to decide how much risk you are willing to take. Once you take action to "secure" the situation then you do the first aid on a first need basis, i.e. if a person is not breathing you take care of that first before wrapping a bleeding wound. So, if you come on to a scene of people on the water who can't swim and don't have flotation, you first have to figure out what the entire environment is. If as in the case I mentioned you are within sight of a marina (its closest finger docks were within about one-fifth or one-eight of a mile) and people on a seawall can be seen gesturing and using cell phones, there is virtually no risk to yourself to drop out of your kayak and push it toward the drowning non-swimmers. While we are all trained to consider our kayak our lifeline, or ultimate survival tool, in this case your survival rate in your PFD, with help on the way and the marina's docks a leisurely swim away, was 100 percent even without your kayak, as long as you had it between you and the panicky swimmers and could swim away from them if they started climbing over and trying to grab you. You secured the scene by thrusting your kayak into the situation as a virtually unsinkable life raft. If the scene were in the middle of a turbulent bay a mile from shore, getting out of your kayak may not be a wise move since there your kayak is your lifeline. You might be in the water for hours without help being summoned or coming. You would not necessarily be helping to secure the situation by jumping out of your kayak. ralph diaz ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Ralph Diaz . . . Folding Kayaker newsletter PO Box 0754, New York, NY 10024 Tel: 212-724-5069; E-mail: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com "Where's your sea kayak?"----"It's in the bag." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** 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 18 2000 - 07:06:56 PDT
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