I just got my latest Sea Kayaker. As usual I devoured the tech stories and glossed over the adventure travel ones for a later reading. Something really struck me in one of the tech stories, the safety one, Smith Island Solo. The fellow made a crossing for which he really wasn't prepared and capsized. Where the story gets interesting is his thinking at various stages. In his first capsize he thought to himself "I briefly thought of doing an Eskimo roll; I had read about it, but I hadn't practiced it." In later capsizes he talks about his paddle float, "I pushed the paddle float onto the paddle and blew into the nozzle as hard as I could. I knew from practicing in the garage..." Early on he quotes a SK editorial in which editor Chris Cunningham said "Novices should be pushing their limits every time they go out." which is the reason why the guy tried the open water crossing. He clearly totally misinterpreted and misunderstood what Chris wrote. Chris was kind to the fellow in the analysis following the report and drew good lessons from it. I am writing not to pick on the fellow and I am glad he was willing to share it. It is a great story in that this is a major magazine, widely circulated and likely to be picked up by a newcomer at the shop when buying a new boat and/or gear. It might shake someone who has read about rescues into realizing that reading and doing are not the same thing. I lost count of the paddlers I have run across, who after striking up a conversation about gear, indicate that they never actually practiced with the paddle float resting under back deck bungees or tried pumping out their kayak with the shiny pump on their foredeck. It seems to me that it is just about the first thing you learn before anything else, the first thing being doing wet exits. Chris, by the way, underscored the value of having a VHF radio. It would have helped this guy and the people in the next article who rescued a drowning victim from a capsized small motorboat. VHF radios are bordering on the essential for the savvy seakayaker. 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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