ralph diaz wrote: > Doug Lloyd wrote: > > > > ralph diaz wrote: > > > << The image is of the Blessed Virgin calming the > > seas for three fisherman caught in a canoe during a > > storm off of Cuba about 5 centuries ago. I wrote > > it up awhile back in Paddlewise (I think?) among > > other places. Sometimes when paddling I > > think I can use a little divine intervention. > > Come to think of it, so > > can quite a few other PaddleWisers! :-) > > > > That's my take too. Great safety net, eh? Between 'The Big Guy Upstairs' > > and the Coast Guard, help usually isn't too far away. > > I was actually thinking of precisely you, Doug. But I didn't want to > bring up your name. Far be it for ME to join the gang tackle criticism > of your paddling exploits! :-) You may also want to add a pair of > rosary beads, prayer wheels and some local favorable BC totems, i.e. get > all the divinity you can intervening for you in Father Neptune's court. > > Have a safe 2001 and new millenium, > Ah, I see ralph, you were baiting me were you? Actually, I deserve any and all criticism, which is partly why I've been so strange on PW lately. You see, some folks were thinking I was some kind of expert or something. I don't deserve any respect. Guys like Rex Robertson, Harvey Golden and Rob Cookson -- and maybe even Duane -- these guys deserve respect. They represent the professional, ethical, and consummate paddler profiles that should draw our worthy attention. I'm just a meat head who tries to come across as some kind of cool-headed paddler, when in fact that is all contrived. I just love hard-core adventure, and the mystical undertow of pushing the edge and getting thrashed by the ocean -- just me and the sea. Life doesn't get any simpler than that. And, the truth be known, I figure most of life is a contrived affair anyway. Most religion is based on contrived systematic theologies; and much of science is based on contrived assumptions - like the geological column and carbon dating. Office politics, societal masks -- all complex contrivances. Moreover, take a look at the last page -- Dagger advertisement -- in the Feb. 2001 issue of sea Kayaker Magazine. It reads "Paddle as if every stroke keeps society from sucking you back in". It goes on like that. Well, that about describes my word-view on paddling -- though I think some of the lessons I learn out there and technique development still have some relevance in terms of what I can offer to PW -- and in fact, Sea Kayaker Magazine for that matter when they don't think I'm being too weird (and they didn't like some of my well-researched and non vicarious hypothermia investigations - so the feeling is mutual some days :-) ). As far as the whole prayer/religious thing, that might be a bit off topic, I KNOW -- though I really believe there is validity in touching on it once and awhile - even in jest. Paddlers are people (duh), and as such, are complex physical, mental, and spiritual beings. I've been in enough stressful situations, both alone and in groups, that I have experienced and/or witnessed a number of responses over the years. The sea has the propensity to turn one into a babbling idiot for those who temporarily loose respect for it , get caught by it, and/or forget that the ocean is immensely bigger than the individual -- where there is a tendency to have mistakes heavily highlighted. So, who ya gonna call, Ghostbusters? I don't think so. There are no atheists in foxholes, and there are often less in deep troughs. Anyway, I'm lucky. My wife is a "prayer warrior" in our church. I have no idea why she married me, but it is great to have her as one of my "back-ups" when I'm out there. On long trips, she gives me a supply of dated personal notes to read successively each day. Sick man! Behind every goofy guy, there is a great wife. She is faithful to me though in public though, especially after seeing me out in the "BC's Perfect Storm" which I posted a while ago. She tells everyone I can handle some pretty serious stuff, and not to worry. She's also seen me do some pretty mean re-entry and rolls in rough sea practice. Don't do the crime, if you can't do the practice time. I'll forgo your rosary beads however. I have enough problems with tether entanglement. BTW, I'll post my log-entry sometime soon, that details my wife's first rough water outing in her new Huntsman. It is from a husband's personal account, and as such, the discussion of Yvonne may be construed as off-topic -- but I believe it has some value (hopefully no back-channel nastiness will ensue from that one). Now, here are some other great quotes from the recent Sea Kayaker Magazine above (with snips): * In an excellent essay by Malcolm Gunn, "Beyond the Comfort Zone", he describes paddling in the huge Southern Ocean swell off new Zealand: "Curiosity, it is said, is hell on cats. Sea kayakers, too, should be wary of this vice." *In a torrid tale of trekking through tangled jungle after a surf-misshap that gave new meaning to the term "folder", Frank Wolf writes of his misadventure with fellow Canadian paddler Dave Stibbe off Java (I originally posted the Canadian Press version on PW a while ago, and cc'ed Seakayaker -- being the busy-body I am): "This castaway gig was pretty cool...rue adventure never really starts until you mess up really badly. We fulfilled that criterion." *Greg Stamer's excellent photos and piece about the 2000 Greenland National Championship saved us the huge air fair of going ourselves, yet placed the reader right there for a paddler's eye view: "The weather continued to deteriorate and the wind began to howl outside of the harbour...I was relieved to see Harvey [Golden] finish [the race] but there was no sign of Maligiaq...a large wave broke on his cockpit, imploding his sealskin skirt and flooding his kayak...the cold water cramped his legs, he hailed the rescue boat." *Harvey Golden details in his article "Some Assembly Required" how he took up to the Championship, his sawn-up frame and skin boat, then assembled it their with quick-dry polyurethane glue: "I was very pleased it took only 80 times longer to assemble than a Klepper". *In a great safety article by Steve Weileman, he describes an unfortunate turn of events necessitating a shore-bound rescue, that he and his wife underwent during an unexpectedly long and fierce summer storm off Vancouver Island's west coast. Chris, the editor, gives editorial review, borrowing a line from the book 'Wilderness First Aid' to explain the couple's inability to respond to cold effectively: "hypothermia is easily overlooked in the wilderness, and has been mistaken for fatigue". *Finally, there is the riveting, heart-stopping action of Roy Willy Johansen's report on his horrendous crossing of the Davis Strait alone, in a K-2 Seaward kayak, complete with an iceberg going over with him on it, just as he awoke. He wrote the story just before returning to complete his trip (after requiring a deep-wilderness rescue on the first leg) where he died on route during the second-leg from natural causes. He writes: "Because of the bad weather, I hadn't been able to take my dry suit off to pee...[so] I had to pee in the dry suit five times...then I took my socks off [on the iceberg, mid-strait]...my feet were black and purple...Frostbite." Later, after other mind-numbing ordeals, the 6' 7'' Norsman writes: "I noticed wetness on my face,and realized it was tears." Oceans. Origins. Challenges. Alone-ness. Adventures. Mishaps. Emotions. Sounds like I'm in the right sport. Have a safe and adventurous New Year, ralph, et al. And say one for me if you are down on your knees on Sunday, ralph. DL *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************Received on Thu Dec 28 2000 - 23:52:24 PST
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