Re: [Paddlewise] Ignorance

In a message dated 12/13/01 4:12:42 AM Mountain Standard Time, 
nblaauw_at_foxboro.com writes:


> Hi folks,
> 
> A while back one of my co-paddlers gave me an amazing insight of how the
> human mind can work in evaluating dangerous situations.
> 
> The lady in question was tying 2 kayaks on the roofrack of her car. She was
> not using any bow- or stern lines to the car, just some ropes around the
> boats and the rack. I was watching it, thinking the attachments of the rack
> to the car didn't look too solid. I pulled on one of the attachments and
> pulled it right of the car. She noticed and pushed it back on. Problem
> solved in her opinion.
> 
> We had a discussion like this:
> 
> Me: Aren't you afraid the wind will pull the rack of your car?
> She: Well, it never happened, so I think it's OK.
> Me: So you just wait until it happens before you do something about it?
> She: I told you, it didn't happen so far.
> Me: Just imagine it happens. Imagine you are driving on a crowded highway,
> and your roofrack with 2 kayaks flies into the air, make a couple of
> summersaults and then lands on a car behind you. Imagine the damage to the
> kayaks, the car, the people in the car, the people behind it, the enourmous
> disaster that will be your fault.
> She: Oh no, I don't want to think about that.
> Me: If you don't want to think about it, you better make sure it doesn't
> happen. Use some extra lines for gods sake! You're a danger to everyone
> around you! Do something about it!
> She: <angry face, no answer>.
> 
> She probably thinks I'm not a very nice guy, just going on and on about it.
> She has not changed her way of tying boats to a roofrack.
> 
> None so blind as those who don't want to see.
> 
> Niels.
> 

Hi, I read this list and most of time when people talk about dumb stuff 
others do, I can say to myself "no, I don't do that, whew" or at least "good 
thing I don't do that anymore." But this one above made me think. I never 
thought of bow and stern lines as insurance against the _rack_ coming off. I 
used to use them when I was using foam pads on the roof instead of a real 
rack. But then I got a new Subaru Forester with factory racks and a nice 
kayak stacker, and since then I've dispensed with the bow and stern lines as 
unnecessary. And I've driven hundreds of miles, feeling completely secure. 
Now I'm thinking I may have been remiss. But frankly, most people I see on 
the road are doing the same thing. Do you think bow and stern lines are 
always necessary, or only with less secure racks?


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