Doug Lloyd wrote: SNIPPED > Rex, that was kind of my point. Rescuing a double in summer in choppy, but not > too terrible conditions, is actually very easy. You know the routine: one person > gets in the stern while the bow paddler in the water stabilizes the craft. Then > the stern paddler braces, while the bow paddler gets in. There are variations, > but I've seen people who are "experienced" get back in very quickly indeed. Your > point about sea sock is well taken. In real rough conditions, any rescue is difficult whether it involves two single kayakers in an all-in-the-water situation or two paddlers overboard from a double. In lesser rough conditions, the double is probably easier but you do have all that water to empty out and not the advantage of the T-rescue emptying out you have with two boats. Sea socks and lots of air bags are critical to reduce the amount of water that can get in. That is why Feathercraft back in 1993 made sea socks standard equipment in all their boats, even the then recently-introduced K-Light which they wanted to keep as low price as possible, rather than leave the sea socks as an optional accessory. It is also why a few years later, Feathercraft started advicing paddlers in its manuals to also use air bags, i.e. the suspenders and belt approach to safety. Many foldables, however, can't easily accept a sea sock because of their spraydecks and/or coaming configurations. > We lost a couple off Victoria in a Klepper a few years ago. I know for a fact > the couple did not have a lot of rescue skills. Their friends also said they > were kind of reckless. Recklessness comes in many forms, and the line between > adventure and irresponsibility is a fine one, ameliorated somewhat by > preparation, skill development, and carrying proper gear like sea socks, etc. This is likely the same case I mentioned in my earlier response. Part of the problem is the feeling of invincibility that some Klepper owners have. The boats are great and well proven in every waterway from pole to pole and in every kind of sea condition but anything can be knocked over. When I bought my double years ago, there was never a mention of the need for airbags. And regarding PFDs was told that they weren't necessary and just to have those cheapo orange ones in the boat to please the Coast Guard. In that same vein, Klepper owners have been slow to don cold water garments. If you are convinced you won't go into the drink, why deal with all that stuffy stuff. But by the same token the invincibility that the Klepper owner has because of his boat is also shared by the non-Klepper hardshell paddler who is overly confident in his skills. Witness the Norwegian who was just killed in Newfoundland. There was a discussion back in the beginning of PaddleWise regarding leaving a margin for error. The best thing to do seems to be to figure that you, your boat can handle x conditions but then try not to push the conditions you paddle in beyond x minus y with y being some margin for safety. > > Over the years, I've seen a lot of "action" out on the water, including numerous > weather tide situations. I've seen groups of single kayak kayakers, scarred to > death (as a group, even). Though the number of solo doubles I've run across are > few, the individuals in these doubles always seemed a lot less worried and felt > a lot safer - and were actually enjoying themselves. Some of them were more > experienced than others, for sure, but I always feel like they were an accident > waiting to happen. Could be. Most doubles can handle quite a lot with the paddlers not having to do much except paddle them. This certainly helps the crew relax when others in singles are getting quite nervous. But even doubles have their limits. > > BTW, it was Ken Fink who mentions every year at the PT Symposium, the easabiliyt > of a solo double rescue in his talk on oceanography and sea conditions. I took > him to task on the point last time I attended. Hmmm. My good friend Ken Fink said that? What was his response? When I have heard him talk on the East Coast in that same lecture he usually has the double flipping over easily, especially a foldable, because of their width. :-) BTW, in Ken's one visit to NYC to paddle we managed to get him into a double Klepper for the trip to the Statue with his wife. It is a boat he normally mocks in a congenial way as the example in his lecture regarding doubles as I mention above. 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 Wed Sep 27 2000 - 11:40:42 PDT
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