Doug said: "I often get the feeling that certain people on this list are rather elitist in their thinking and as such are unwilling to even consider some of the, shall we for lack of a better description call them, lower levels of the sport. <snip> ------------ I'm not so sure its an elitist mentality that cognates through the windmills of some of our minds, but rather a genuine concern for the growing plethora of plastic recreational kayaks currently experiencing exponential growth across North America." ------------------------------------ My point (Who Dies) is that it appears that the folks that buy the Rec Boats get them from dealers that are low end-knowledge sales as well. The buyers have no idea about the nature of the environment they are entering. They generally don't have a mentor such as yourself. About 3 months back, two of our local skilled paddlers were out training a third paddler in the surf on the New Jersey shore. When their student capsized they did a rescue- no problem. At about that point, they heard a cry from the waves near by. A fisherman dressed in street clothes and heavy boots had capsized his little rec boat and was being swept out to sea. No flotation, boat was awash. My friends rescued him (twice) on the way in to shore. The victim planned to "stay near shore". He was only crossing the inlet to a small island to go fishing. The ebbing tide and waves in the inlet hauled him out to sea and capsized him. If my friends had't found him, he could have been a statistic. What is the water temperature where your friends are paddling in their rec boat? Cold water is very nearly the only thing that kills kayakers, and etc. etc., and the victims are always wearing street clothes because they aren't going far and won't capsize! 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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