When I went shopping for my first kayak, the dealers I visited with either made a basic safety package part of the purchase price, or offered heavy discounts on recommended safety items purchased with the boat (one even extended this discount to safety and storage accessories purchased within six months). The multiple-day skills session I took, which allowed me to test drive a half dozen boats by using them in the class itself, emphasized the necessity of redundancy and practice of self and group rescue skills. An additional class on learning to roll was available. Even if you did not buy a kayak, taking the class from this retailer also allowed you a buy safety gear at a discount. My limited experience with SAR work in backpacking-climbing suggests that people will find a way to overcome the obvious warnings, ignore all prudent evidence, and persist in allowing their 'interest' to overreach their 'intelligence'. Some of us have been lucky to have learned potentially dangerous lessons without much lasting consequence to life and limb. On day climbs or above treeline hikes, I am often the one in the group who carries a stuffed pack....a headlamp....firstaid kit....extra clothing and food... hats and mittens in summer....blah blah woof woof. And if I'm not nagged by my hike-mates, my forty-something shoulders often argue that I could have easily left the load behind. Then again, I've also doled out extra jackets and hats...water...food...etc when the weather went to hell and my go-lite pals were turning blue-lipped and stoic...and hours from the trailhead. The message seems clear enough: when you venture out, you are responsible for yourself and the impact you have on the environment; when you go out with others, that responsibility expands and becomes mutual. The worse part of group problems is when one person assumes their skill and knowledge will suffice for others, luring all into a misplaced sense of security. -wjj *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************Received on Fri Jan 25 2002 - 10:24:00 PST
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