Mark wrote: <snip> > Has any body out there heard this "water stable" terminology. It worries me > that this would make people think the boats can not turn over. You may not > be able to roll these boats, but I think its very important to know and > practice self-rescue in these boats. This coming from a Parks and Wildlife > person who said she also guided was a little worrisome to me. These boats are essentially small decked canoes, and few if any people practice self-rescue in canoes. Given the sheltered waters they're used on, so long as the users wear PFDs I think they're safe enough. Should they actually tip these boats over they'll do an automatic wet exit. What worries me more is the great number of people I see in rented canoes and recreational kayaks wearing no PFD at all-whether or not they can swim. A few months ago a woman paddling the Huron river fell out of a canoe she was paddling with her boyfriend and child drowned right next to the boat. This happened in a pond upstream from a dam where there's almost no perceptible current. The canoe rental places toss a couple of PFDs in the boats, hand them paddles and turn them loose. We call these canoists "pinball boaters" for the path they describe down the river. (A few weeks later I met an 'experienced' kayaker near there who advised me not to use the sprayskirt on my Feathercraft because "it was much too hot today"... ) -- mike --------------------------------------------------------------- Michael Edelman mje_at_spamcop.net http://www.foldingkayaks.org (nomadics) http://www.findascope.com (choosing a telescope) *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
In a message dated 10/4/00 10:43:28 AM Central Daylight Time, mje_at_spamcop.net writes: << These boats are essentially small decked canoes, and few if any people practice self-rescue in canoes. Given the sheltered waters they're used on, so long as the users wear PFDs I think they're safe enough. Should they actually tip these boats over they'll do an automatic wet exit. >> What worries me is that I see people who have bought these for protected inland water, but after a while they decide to come down here to the coast. Although there are many areas where you can launch and paddle all day in protected water, many of the really neat places people have heard about require an open water crossing to get to the neat protected area. We often have calm mornings with glassy waters that turn in 20-25mph winds with a messy, steep chop in our shallow bays. I worry to much I guess about somebody getting caught out in a lot more than they expected. Mark J. Arnold *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
>Mike wrote: > >[SNIP] >What worries me more is the great number of people I see in rented >canoes and recreational kayaks wearing no PFD at all-whether or not they >can swim. A few months ago a woman paddling the Huron river fell out of >a canoe she was paddling with her boyfriend and child drowned right >next to the boat. This happened in a pond upstream from a dam where >there's almost no perceptible current. [SNIP] We've had a couple of canoe related fatalities this year here in the Twin Cities. The downtown chain of lakes is a very popular with rental canoeists. All the deaths I know of were drowning after a dunking while not wearing a PFD. -Patrick *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
Now come on people, "water stable" kayaks were originally an arctic tradition for many years. The Northern Labrador Kayak was 25' long and 23" wide, with a flat stable bottom, and as S.K. Hutton wrote, "They were never rolled by their occupants, and in the event of a capsize the paddler would need assistance from a companion in order to get back into the boat." :-) BC'in Ya Doug Lloyd *************************************************************************** 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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