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 *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
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