My personal take... Make all new paddlers learn in Alaska; in a bay with a tidewater glacier, 40+ mph catabolic winds, combined with a 15' tidal change over a glacial moraine....that'll make them take it a helluva lot more serious, or not pursue the sport at all. Or send them out to Dutch Harbor to learn, where if they aren't strong enough to paddle against the current, they might be swept away to Japan. Seriously, with the population this planet has, and the popularity towards 'extreme' sports, we simply cannot keep all would be 'morons' safe and happy in the paddling environment. It is truly sad to hear of fatalities in kayaking, or any sport for that matter. Just last weekend, we had 6 avalanches in the Anchorage bowl, with several fatalities (snowmachiners & backcountry skiers). As much as we try as a society, we simply cannot prevent every accidental death. In most circumstances, these deaths are directly attributable to inexperience -v- conditions. A point comes along when individual accountability has to play a direct role in this. As a former teacher, I have seen the same pass away into nothing in American Society. While I am sure we all strive to be 'our brothers keeper', we are failing to be our own keeper as well. I may be way out in left field with this, but when I started getting into kayaking, I visited every store that sold kayaks, and picked every person's brain about the sport. Then bought several great books on the sport and read them front to back; then took several classes on it. I knew that bottom line - I would be the one that would put myself into a potential life-threatening situation, and would be the only one to get myself out of it. With the litargy of information available to anyone that has access to a library today, there is absolutely no excuse to not know what one is getting themselves into. Scott Simpson Anchorage Alaska "There is always one more thing you can do to influence any situation" Lt. Gen Harold Moore, USA (Ret) *************************************************************************** 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 Tue Apr 16 2002 - 18:28:35 PDT
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