Peter said: I too wonder about the necessity of a paddle leash <snip>. One of the previous posters on another thread implied that it was some kind of safety breach that someone wasn't using one. <snip> ------- Peter, It isn't a matter of breaching safety, it is a matter of personal choice and options. Whitewater guys generally are a conforming bunch with respect to gear, but sea kayakers vary widely in comparison. Like Scott said, learn to hold onto your paddle (and boat after a wet-exit). Leashes and such are a back-up and/or convenience item only. Paddle-to-boat or paddle-to-wrist, both have advantages and disadvantages. Some folks find the wrist-to-paddle best, as it prevents complications with various paddle play maneuvers. Boat-to-paddle tethers do slap the deck a bit. Also, if you use a Paddlefloat as part of your rescue strategy, think through how a leash/tether can be used to retain the float/paddle combination. Work through your system Matt has some great ideas on his web site. Remember, this is all backup stuff. Think about Steve Holtzman's incident for a minute. Don't let Scott dissuade you, but do consider what he and others have to say. What bugs me are people who say "don't do this" or "do only that" on items that are well understood as personal preference. Normally, paddlers should be giving strong opinion as to what works for them and why. That's al - IMHO. Doug Lloyd *************************************************************************** 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 Thu Feb 21 2002 - 12:04:12 PST
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:30:50 PDT