[Paddlewise] alaska acccident revisited

Today Anchorage Daily News has a long article about the kayaking accident near
Homer that was discussed on Paddlewise a few weeks ago. You can read the
article on the their web site www.adn.com   it is listed as "Fatal Crossing"
under the Alaska section.


I mentioned in an earlier post that the Anchorage paper doesn't know sea
kayaking as well as dog mushing so reporting on sea kayaking accidents tends
to be makeshift at best.


However the writer, Tom Kizzia, refered to Paddlewise in the research for the
article. Basically he said some of us felt they were novices who were
unequipped for the life threatening situation while others said it was
unrealistic to expect occasional paddlers to load up on expensive safety gear.

The article sheds more light on the accident. Basically they were
inexperienced for the conditions they encountered. They knew a storm was
coming but thought thet would be back before it hit.  Also they had no radio
and lost their flares in the capzise.


The article is a worth while read in the debate about experience and gear.


Bob





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