Re: [Paddlewise] safety nazis (was sad news...)

At 08:03 AM 1/24/02 -0800, Kevin Whilden wrote:
>----- Original Message -----
>From: <JSpinner2_at_aol.com>
> >     We, in CPA, get a hard time from some paddlers for our emphasis on
>safety
> > but if one life is spared some level of suffering, it is worth all the
> > "safety nazi" talk in the world.
> >
>
>Joan, thanks for your comments.  They have got me to thinking...  (nobody
>say, "imagine that!")
>
>Why do people who preach safety in the realm of sea kayaking often find
>resistance and derision?  Especially since in the realm of whitewater
>kayaking, people who preach safety are seen almost as heroes (e.g. Charlie
>Walbridge).

Two words:  Recreational kayaks.

OK, I'll elaborate.  I think that whitewater is just perceived as dangerous 
(I wonder how many whitewater boaters never saw Deliverance...) so people 
that are entering into the realm of whitewater kayaking are probably 
assuming that because they're going to be in dangerous conditions some 
safety precautions are welcomed.

Sea Kayaking, however, has a bit of an identity crisis.  The range of craft 
and conditions runs the gamut from a wide flat bottom "Kiwi" type 
recreational boat on a small pond with nary a ripple, to 18' long, 20" wide 
touring boats paddled on the ocean with 10' swells.  I would guess that 
many people just getting into sea kayaking are doing so in what they 
perceive to be pretty benign conditions.  I think that most that are just 
starting or considering trying it still have a fear of tipping over and 
getting trapped inside the cockpit.  That answer to that in the past few 
years has been the introduction of recreational kayaks touted as extremely 
stable and with the large open cockpits their users don't fear getting 
trapped even if they did tip over.
Despite the little resemblance between a 10' long, 30" wide recreational 
boat and an 18' x 20" expedition ready touring boat, they're both called 
"sea kayaks".

I would guess that in very few cases are recreational kayaks paddled in 
conditions in which someone would ever *need* a full drysuit, flares, VHF, 
float bag, tow system, or river knife.  A lot of people that start out in 
recreational boats often do get into longer skinnier boats and gain the 
experience to tackle tougher conditions.  Hopefully, if conditions warrant 
it, they'll start adding appropriate safety gear.


>There must be some new paddlers on Paddlewise who have recently "seen the
>light" on safety.  I would be very interested to read your story of why you
>initially thought you were "safe", and then what experience caused you to
>re-evaluate your safety.  Was it something you read on Paddlewise, or in
>other print media, or learned from a club or clinic?

I can think of a particular instance in which I was attempting to "show the 
light".  It involves someone that participates here but I won't mention any 
names. I was paddling with a small group of people, most of which were in 
recreational kayaks.  When we stopped for lunch I noticed that one person 
was paddling an Old Town Loon, a boat that is constructed of a poly/foam 
sandwhich that is touted as giving the boat enough flotation so that it 
won't sink.  I noticed that the  boat didn't have any float bags and asked 
about.  I was told that it would float due the material it was made of and 
that it wasn't used in  condition in which a capsize was likely 
anyway.  Since there were several people in the group and we were at a 
shallow sloping beach with calm warm water I suggested that we try tipping 
it over to see what would happen.  We tipped it over and it floated high, 
and even with a few inches of water in it could still be paddled the 20' or 
so to shore.  Then we tipped it over and pushed down the gunwale to let the 
cockpit fill up.  While the boat was in no danger of sinking, reentering 
the boat and trying to paddle it 20' was quite a  chore.  Once we got it to 
where we could stand up it wasn't easy to drag it through the water the 
last 10' or so to shore.  It took three people to turn it over and get all 
the water out.  One can imagine what might happen if a capsize occurred 
300' from shore when paddling alone.

As safety nazis, part of the problem might be how we go about helping 
people see the light.  If it comes of as lecturing, or judgmental, any 
advice just isn't going to be very effective.  I think experience in 
controlled conditions is the best teacher.  Showing someone how to do a 
paddlefloat rescue in a pool is one thing.  Describing a scenario where one 
might really need to perform a paddlefloat rescue after they've tried a 
couple in controlled conditions really stresses the importance of 
practicing it so that it's bombproof.


>Another question is the definition of "expert".  I'm trying to figure out
>how anyone, even a newspaper reporter, could call someone without safety
>gear or thermal protection while paddling in Alaska in the *winter*, could
>call them an expert.  Is there anyone here who had at some point thought
>they were "expert" and then had an experience that exposed your folly?  I
>would love to hear your story.

I've been downhill skiing for about 30 years.  There was a time in the 
early 80's for a span of several years when I never skied with someone 
better than I .  I skied the expert runs and resorts such as Squaw Valley 
with relative ease. Then one year a group of people I shared a ski cabin 
with joined the company race team.  The first year they had several woman 
from the US team as pacesetters.  After watching them beat everyone (at the 
largest amateur ski race in the country), and finishing just over the 
middle of the pack I felt awfully intermediate.
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