Andree Hurley wrote: > This is why I wish everyones first introduction to kayaking was more > responsible than it sometimes is. I still see outfitters, for example, > lay out a bunch kayaks, have people step into them with their street clothes > on, and get pushed off the beach. I'm sure these twenty people per day > then propagate this same technique to their friends and family, ad > infinitum... > > Really one of my pet peeves! I have not seen outfitters do that down here, but I can surely agree the behavior you describe is reprehensible. Though I am saddened by the (presumed) loss of the two young men, I have come to adopt a more laissez-faire attitude about such incidents. Those incidents are going to happen. Stay with me on this before you react. We have two or three outfitting groups HQ'ed down here, and they are all very responsible. Their attitude has permeated the local (emphasis: local) sea kayaking culture. In fact, the area "visitors' guide" the last two years published a short article about local paddling opportunities which included some caveats from them, and me (as the graybearded local, I guess) ... **until this year**. This year's visitors' guide has no mention of any of the safe paddling practices in its paddling article, just the usual Chamber of Commerce puffery about how groovy and wonderful paddling is on the Lower Columbia. So why did they axe the precautions? Probably somebody in the editorial staff decided it just was not upbeat enough. If I get fired up enough, I might go down and find out, because: If we want to reduce the number of incidents such as the one in Bellingham Bay, we have to educate the general public. Even so, there will be those we miss, perhaps like the two young men. Having been 20 once, I can understand how easily they could take off unprepared. I won't bore you with all the dumb stunts I survived. My bottom line? Some will go, others will not. All we can do is educate. -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR *************************************************************************** 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 Tue Mar 13 2001 - 08:11:23 PST
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