There have been lots of thoughtful suggestions. They all merit thinking about. I think the value of this is it starts running "what ifs" and "what would I do's" through your mind. Regarding the specific case that I was referring to, I would be inclined to agree with the instructor. These were guys who were beginning to go under. They were in the relatively protected area near a marina, albeit wake swept. If you just gave up your boat, you would be okay in terms of yourself. People were on the seawall calling for help with their cell phones and clearly were running to the marina office to get a power boat out there fast. I don't think there was time to reason with the drowning guys or play with their hanging on to your bow. Better to control your own capsize away from them (as Joan Spinner suggested) and basically give them the upside down boat to hang on to. And then either move away from them or stay on the other side of the boat from them. Help would be there within just minutes. Again, this is not like being out well away from shore and not being noticed or not knowing when help would come. Help was most definitely on the way, to get there in minutes. Those guys drowned in the matter of a a few minutes. I think the instructor's call was a good one for this specific situation. But if you were a half mile out, the waves were pounding, the wind howling, etc. then all you could do would be to figure out what floatable stuff you could toss them and offer them you bow being ready to wack them with your paddle. BTW, I don't want to make comedy out of a tragedy, but what do you think the dozens of people on the promenade would have thought. They see a kayaker paddle up. They then, from their limited understanding of the situation, see him start hitting the drowning people with his paddle. Imagine what they would then start yelling into their cell phones to 911. :-) 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/ ***************************************************************************
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