RE: [Paddlewise] Safety

>    I will take a good dose of rational thinking and common sense
> over all of
> the rescue equipment in the world. I believe the emphasis in this sport
> should be on prevention rather then recovery. I believe that the vast
> majority of average Joe paddlers would be far better off learning
> to paddle
> with some restraint and practicing skills rather then wasting
> their money on
> a bunch of unnecessary equipment which the paddler SHOULD never need!

Hopefully you will never need the equipment, but you need to plan for the
unexpected.  What if your leisurely paddle suddenly changes due to extreme
weather conditions?  Suppose someone in your group suddenly needs urgent
medical attention? Certainly good judgment and skills should be the first
choice, but I think you should be ready to cope with an emergency.  I am
sure the folks in Homer thought they were doing a leisurely paddle until the
weather changed.  I was on the river when another party had a drowning, it
was fairly easy class 3 river, no unusual conditions but a boat flipped, a
loose fitting lifejacket came off, and the party had no throw bags.

I was talking with our trip leader in Baja and he told me this story.  His
group was paddling in Baja when one of the members became extremely weak.
Her health continued to decline, but  luckily they had a tandem kayak and
were able to put her in with a strong paddler.  She continued to weaken so
they finally called for help on their VHF radio.  The group knew Nols was
monitoring channel 23 and they sent a motor boat to get her out.  She flew
back to Los Angeles to receive emergency medical attention while waiting in
the emergency room she suddenly lost all her vision.  It was her first MS
attack fortunately, with treatment, she recovered her vision.  Where would
she have been without that worthless VHF radio? Everyone's skills were up to
the challenge.  Stuff happens and you need to be prepared. I have never
filled up my boat with safety equipment it fits in a bag behind my seat and
I keep the radio in my deck bag (I may have to rethink my deck bag!).
Hopefully I will never need it but it might make the difference between life
and death someday. I have had people ask me about the knife on my life
jacket and I tell them because when it is needed it might be in a life or
death situation, and in that case I would rather have it.  If I am trapped
between my raft and a rock I will be thankful I have the knife. -- MZ


visit my website: http://www.mzuschlag.com

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