Re: [Paddlewise] No-Fault Paddling Get-togethers

Hi!

I've taken a good bit of fire in some local groups for suggesting that
there is a certain responsibility inherent in organizing a trip. And I
imagine I'll take some more here, but I've got plenty of skin. ;)

Let me explain what I mean by responsibility, before I must needs don
flameproof wetsuits, etc. :>

I personally believe that if I am organizing a trip, that is to say,
pulling it together, I have an obligation to ensure certain minimum levels
of safety and communication.

I believe it's my responsibility to ensure that we have an adequate mix of
experienced and novice paddlers, and that it's my responsibility to ensure
that there is first-aid gear somewhere in the fleet. I also believe it's
my responsibility to play liaison between the various groups of paddlers,
and let the fleet know that we are, de facto if not de jure, all together
in this endeavor.

This means gently reminding the speedy that there are others along who are
not so speedy, and that occasional patience will be gratefully accepted.
It also means soothing the concerns of the not-so-speedy that they'll be
left behind by the speedy, and encouraging them to do their best, but not
to wind up doing their worst by trying to do their best.

I suppose this opens me up to liability, but there are insurance forms for
that; my basic take is that if I am organizing a trip, whether it's
no-leader or led, it is absolutely, positively incumbent upon me and
*nobody else* to make sure that we have our proverbial <deleted> together.

I will make the point that I'm an EMT and firefighter by training (and
occasionally profession), which I would wager has much to do with my
opinions. I just believe that any situation in which you allow everyone to
"take care of themselves" usually winds up being the situation in which
you *really*, *really* wish you'd done some rudimentary organizational and
procedural groundwork, and that one person somewhere was at least
nominally "in charge".

Again, my USD$.02 (very nearly CDN$.03, and NZ$.048, so I shall expect
more briskness from those quarters ;) )

.ashton

On Fri, 27 Apr 2001 JCMARTIN43_at_aol.com wrote:

> Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2001 17:47:54 EDT
> From: JCMARTIN43_at_aol.com
> To: FoldingBoats_at_aol.com, paddlewise_at_paddlewise.net
> Subject: Re: [Paddlewise] No-Fault Paddling Get-togethers
>
> In a message dated 4/27/2001 5:04:01 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
> FoldingBoats_at_aol.com writes:

[snipped]

> Ralph (Hoehn) wins.  At least that's how we did it in ANorAK days.  This is
> no-fault paddling, folks.  Nobody's in charge.  Anarchy could reign, but I
> never saw it happen.  Tell you what did happen --- and it happened on that
> Strawberry Banks trip, in fact.

[snipped]

> way to get a bunch of paddlers together, and if ten newbies show up, the guy
> who posted the note turns coach for the day.  No big deal.
>
> Jack Martin

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