PaddleWise by thread

From: John Winters <jwinters_at_onlink.net>
subject: [Paddlewise] No rescues needed
Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2001 10:20:25 -0500
Bill wrote:





> I think Scott is trolling a bit, so I'll rise to his bait. Tom Bergh says 


>"There are only two kinds of kayakers - those who have swum, and those who 


>will".





>I believe Tom Bergh.





Easy to prove Tom Bergh wrong. Just find one kayaker who died of old age who
hadn't capsized a sea kayak. I happened to know such a person - God rest his
soul. He paddled for many years and never once went for  a swim. I asked him
why he felt so strongly about never capsizing and he said, "Do you know what
fish do in that water?" 





In any case, you can believe Tom Berg if you like. I doubt if that will bother
those who consider an ounce of prevention worth a pound of cure. If you want
lessons on how to avoid capsize, chat with the people who have successfully
paddled open canoes in the far north. They usually have highly developed
skills at staying upright because they don't have many options.   





Tom Bergh's statement might better be rephrased "There are only two kinds of
kayakers - those who have capsized and those who haven't." Useless as a piece
of wisdom but at least it has the merit of being true. 








Cheers,





John Winters





***************************************************************************
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/
***************************************************************************
From: Jochen Grikschat <grikschat_at_surfeu.de>
subject: Re: [Paddlewise] No rescues needed
Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2001 23:37:11 +0100
> If you want
> lessons on how to avoid capsize, chat with the people who have
successfully
> paddled open canoes in the far north. They usually have highly developed
> skills at staying upright because they don't have many options.

Yeah, thats my philosophy. Donīt capsize and you donīt need to re-enter the
kayak. No swim, no problem. Until now, Iīve never capsized on the sea. Every
time there was the chance to swim, I react by reflex and do the damn right
to stay over the water. But of course, Iīm good at rolling up and reenter by
float or under water. You never could know...

safe paddling
Jochen

***************************************************************************
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/
***************************************************************************
From: Patrick Maun <patrick_at_patrickmaun.com>
subject: Re: [Paddlewise] No rescues needed
Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2001 11:29:01 +0100
At Tuesday, 27 November 2001, "Jochen Grikschat" <grikschat_at_surfeu.
de> wrote:

>Yeah, thats my philosophy. Donīt capsize and you donīt need to re-
enter the
>kayak. No swim, no problem. Until now, Iīve never capsized on the 
sea. [SNIP]

Good philosophy, but reality can always rear its ugly head. I had 
never unintentially capsized in seven years of paddling until a few 
months ago. I was having boat problems and while leaning to compensate 
met with a wave. I was very suprised (and extremely angry) to find 
myself upside down (and I was having a really bad day), in fact I 
was so suprised that I blew my set up and and my roll and ended up 
bailing. No big deal but it did prove that even when you "never" 
capsize, you still can.

-Patrick






***************************************************************************
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 - 16:33:25 PDT