Re: [Paddlewise] safety nazis

Safety nazis- safety police, whatever!

We tell new paddlers about how to safely approach cold-water paddling 
because it is the right thing to do. There are a variety of idiotic 
reasons out there for why some well trained paddlers believe that we 
should not tell paddlers what to do (suggest to paddlers), which I 
won't deal with in this note. An east coast club is presently 
struggling with the refusenick that don't want policy written down 
for their club. What is a club for if not to see to the safety of 
their members?

But there is also the issue of abuse heaped on those who make the 
attempt to educate their fellow paddlers. That abuse, I can assure 
you, sometimes reaches such a high level that some fellow paddlers 
reach a point where it is easier to just let those who are determined 
to remain ignorant and suicidal on the winter sea to freeze in the 
sea at a place and time of their own choosing with no further notice 
of the matter. Unfortunate that they will indirectly cause the deaths 
of other novice paddlers who never get the chance to learn about how 
to deal with risk in off season paddling.

My observation over the past 20 years is that the sea kayakers that 
die in the cold water are mostly novice paddlers. 

Chuck Sutherland
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