Go away for a while and come back and people are still talking about the same thing. If we are serious about safety let's start at the foundation and work up. You can't - as a former boss once said - build the Taj Mahal on a pile of cow dung. Kayaking starts with a designer and few designers have formal training so let's pass a law requiring a degree in Naval Architecture before anyone can design a kayak. Few kayak designers have ever read the SOLAS rules or would understand them if they read them (does anyone?). Obviously we will need a special certification exam for matters specific to kayak safety and designers should have to re-certify every four years. We will need design rules to keep careless (or unscrupulous) designers on track. A standard stability curve will be required similar to the US Navy Ship Standard with minimum static and dynamic stability ranges. Designers will have to have new designs certified by the Coast Guard. Since not all paddlers are physically capable of rolling we will need a "none rolling" standard of self righting . We can probably crib this from the IMO lifeboat standard. A flooded compartment damaged stability standard will be no real problem to develop. The Navy has one that we can adapt. Aluminium should be prohibited below the waterline, hull colours should all be yellow or whatever it is that repels sharks. We can't stop with designers. Builders should have to build to Loyd's standards of construction. Hatches should meet De Norske Veritas minimums for open water craft and spray skirts should withstand a minimum implosion test. The US Navy standards for dry decks in Class I ships should work well for everything but the surf zone and Paddlewise experts will have no trouble developing a surf standard. Boats are only part of the equation. Once you have a boat you need safety devices. The Coast Guard should make Back-ups, Paddle Floats, sponsons, GPS, radar, radar reflectors, drogues, standard emergency rations, kayak cats (self righting cat accessory), tow lines, tethers, life jackets, fog horns, assault weapons (protection against pirates) etc. etc. etc. mandatory. We will need yearly inspections to make sure everything works and that every boat has back-ups for their back-up systems. Everyone should be required to wear suitable reflective clothing and all boats must have running lights. Paddlers need to know how to paddle and use this stuff and licensing is the only way to provide any reasonable assurance of competence. Maybe the BCU will take on the responsibility for a world standard of competency and provide the courses and re-certification exams. The mind fairly boggles at the grand plan. Think of it, kayaking as safe as - well - as staying at home. Cheers, John Winters *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
John or Scribe for the Professor, I agree with your proposed regs completely. The only problem is I can no longer afford to buy a kayak. My original $2,500-$3,000 boat will probably now cost in excess of $100,000 and require a 30 year mortgage. Steve Holtzman ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Winters" <jwinters_at_onlink.net> To: <paddlewise_at_paddlewise.net> Sent: April 19, 2002 5:45 AM Subject: [Paddlewise] The Safety Thing > Go away for a while and come back and people are still talking about the > same thing. *************************************************************************** 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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