> I lead a lot of formal trips, both canoeing and kayaking and also > often > just put a message out that I am going to paddle and ask who wants to > go. > > Some of these trips are for short, easy paddles that do not require a > lot of skill or stamina on the part of the paddler. > > Other trips require special skills and much more stamina. > > I make a big effort not to take people on trips that are above their > skill level unless I have designed the trip to be an educational trip > and have several other friends that are willing to help me "babysit". > This means that they will stay with them, even if they are real slow, > give them pointers on paddling to make their lives easier or safer, > etc. > > I also often take an 82 year old friend along and if we are kayaking, > I > tow her as needed. I also tow children as needed if I have set up a > trip to allow them. > > But the biggest problem I have is communicating the difficulty of the > trip. On Thanksgiving, I led a trip through the Big Thicket, a place > where there are no bridges for 38 miles and only about 2 places where > one can walk out. So one pretty much has to complete the trip. I > told > people that they needed to be able to paddle at a rate of 3 miles per > hour and paddle up to 25 miles per day to be on this trip. > > One person, who I knew, asked to bring his nonpaddling son. He said > his > son would catch on in a few minutes and be fine. So I knew I had one > raw beginner but thought the rest of us would be intermediate > paddlers. > > Then I saw 5 of the 8 of us using rudders on flat water with very > little > wind. I lowered their skill level to beginner. Then we got so much > rain that the dam was opened and we had a current of from 2 to 3 mph > going through some tight turns and with logs floating down the river > and > with strainers to be dodged. I had a safety talk before we started > off > and found that most of the paddlers did not know how to read a river, > how to do any stearing strokes, or back ferry or even back paddle. > > So I saw that I had not communicated properly with the participants. > > Fortunately, the river is real wide and we insisted that we all stay > close together and the I basically assigned one of my expert paddlers > to > the 2 weakest paddlers. I put my older friend in front so we wouldn't > set a fast pace, and I stayed in the middle, ready to rush to the > front > or back as needed. We ended with only one pin and no real problems > and > a lovely fast easy 15 mile trip out. > > But just saying "this trip is for intermediate paddlers" doesn't not > communicate the problems. And then, no matter now clear you are, you > > will get some people, often yourng guys that are sure they are better > paddlers than they really are. > > Sometimes I try to protect myself and these poor paddlers by having > trusted friends go and paddle specifically with the weakest paddlers > if > I haven't talked them out of going at all. > > I think we also need to give back to the paddling community by > offering > trips for beginners and having them short and slow. > > Also we need to keep the number of beginners to the number of memtors > high. I personally would not take more than 2 people out in waves or > moving water if this was their first time. I take about 10 newbies > on > flat water where it is not affected by wind. > > But I think we need to have a dialog on how best to help people > develop > skills and get to enjoy trips while learning. Personally, I have > found > that taking lessons does the job the fastest for me. Then I develop > stamina and hone my by just paddling. Sometimes I ask a friend to > critique my stroke and make adjustments per her advice. > > Marilyn Kircus *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:33:19 PDT