In a message dated 9/7/00 11:29:23 AM !!!First Boot!!!, rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com writes: <> I still hold current Red Cross Canoe and Kayak. Much of the focus these days is on the Small Craft Safety Course. This course covers general water safety issues and then becomes more craft specific with blocks on canoe, kayak, sail and rowing. << All of this is fine for the achievement minded kayaker. What I miss though is something that would help the masses of kayakers who are not oriented in that direction and that would help them learn a modicum of skills and savvy to keep them out of trouble. The real world of trouble in kayaking is in the masses of kayakers getting into recreational kayaks and entry level sit-on-tops. It would be great to see something real simple for them >> The Quickstart Your Kayak program was designed with this group in mind. It is a three to five hour intro course which covers safety issues, basic strokes, ethic, equipment, etc. I understand that five hours is not a very long period of time to teach all of the above and that is why the key focus of the course is INTRODUCTION. The intro course can sure help to accelerate learning and hopefully make participants safer paddlers. Some people will never take another lesson, others will continue taking classes for the duration of their kayaking life. <<And its domination turns into a tyranny. It can get to the point that liveries will only rent to certified paddlers; group trips limited only to the certified; etc.>> If the sport continues to grow at its current rate and gov't (county, state and federal) continues to go after their perceived piece of the outdoor recreational pie (licensing, registrations, certifications, user fees, etc.), I could see these certification situations gaining momentum. In my state (FL) I have attended meetings where talk of such things was common. (Scary isn't it? What scares me is that many of the proponents of certification are Beaurocrats and not necessarily paddlers.) Bruce McC WEO *************************************************************************** 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 Thu Sep 07 2000 - 13:17:37 PDT
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