Details on this company are at www.potomacmgmt.com. Please consider just removing the word sponsons after the original posting. And with a little more time, additional, independent information can be obtained about Potomac Management Group Inc. There are numerous public records as this is an incorporated company. This information is available to us, the public, in the U.S.A. This means, we, kayakers, may have to spend a little more time than desired on land, doing a little work if we desire this information. And given of more time and the Freedom of Information act (any newspaper or TV reporters out there), we can get the contract from the U.S. Coast Guard. I am assuming the effects of September 11 has not affected this flow of information and I could be wrong. I realize some of the hostility of sponsons in the kayaking crowd. I believe some of the hostility may be due to very poor marketing by a particular person. I also have a tremendous respect for Matt Broze as I have read (and continue to re-read a book he co-authored about sea kayaker's mistakes, and unfortunately fatal). With these notes, why are experienced sea kayakers so hostile to the mere mention of the word "sponsons"? I realize sponsons are not a replacement for experience, good judgment, practice with rolling, etc. However, when discussing potential kayak rescues, this hostility is unwarranted in my opinions. I have not faced this hostility when discussing different kayak rescues, for example, paddle float rescues. *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
Scott Bemis asked: >> With these notes, why are experienced sea kayakers so hostile to the mere mention of the word "sponsons"? >> Scott, it's not sponsons members of Paddlewise are hostile to so much as Tim and the way he promotes them. I think the word "sponson" is avoided partly in jest, partly to prevent Tim from using search engines to find discussions on the subject to quote from. (I'm one of those Tim has quoted on his Web site without permission.) Paddlewise was founded as a moderated list to get away from the acrimonious sponson debates that had become endemic on the Wavelength list, in which Tim quoted out of context, twisted logic, and even accused his opponents of murder in frequent and excessively lengthy posts that repeated the same arguments over and over again ad nauseam. In the early days of Paddlewise, in Tim's absence, there was a relatively unheated, objective discussion about sponsons in which several people said they found them useful for certain limited types of kayaking activity, but in which no one seemed to think they were a panacea. You can find that discussion on the Paddlewise Web site. The problem with Tim is that he is religiously fanatic about sponsons. He honestly believes that sponsons are necessary to kayaking safety, tendentiously discounts alternatives such as rolling and paddle float rescues, and has tried to persuade the Coast Guard to make them legally mandated equipment. Have you ever had a religious fanatic tell you you were going to Hell unless you accepted his particular uninformed interpretation of the Bible? (There was one preaching on the corner across from Williams Arena as the crowd left the Wellstone memorial service Tuesday night. "Boy, is he preaching to the wrong crowd," said Linda.) That's what Tim is like. His Web site will give you a little of the flavor; I'm sure you can find the URL. In the absence of any explanation to the contrary, I and other Paddlewisers justifiably believe Kait O'Hara's research for the Coast Guard is due to Tim's efforts to make his sponsons mandatory equipment. While I applaud her effort -- however uninformed -- to make a balanced report, I do think that if she would like the genuinely useful expertise and cooperation of the kayakers on Paddlewise, she should explain to us the purpose of her research, and its context and methodology (apparently the Word summary and spreadsheet based on the Paddlewise discussion are to be supplements to a longer report). I also recommend that she educate herself about sea kayaking by at least reading a few books and viewing some videotapes on the subject (it's probably a bit late in the season to take up the sport, though maybe not to take a class). For our part, I think it would be to our advantage as sea kayakers to help her as much as possible to understand the subject rather than meet her with hostility. Chuck Holst *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
> From: Chuck Holst <cholst_at_bitstream.net> <snip> > In the absence of any explanation to the contrary, I and other Paddlewisers > justifiably believe Kait O'Hara's research for the Coast Guard is due to > Tim's efforts to make his sponsons mandatory equipment. <snip> > For our part, I think it would be to our advantage as sea kayakers to help > her as much as possible to understand the subject rather than meet her with > hostility. I think most here would agree with your second statement if we could only get answers to the first. Ms. O'Hara has been at this for a month or more now. As far as I can tell, she never answered the question on rec.boats.paddle, either. cheers, jackie *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
Scott, the strong negative opinions you have observed many experienced paddlers holding toward sponsons rather than other rescue equipment is because the sponsons are embuggerances that are not particularly useful,and present significant risks. 1. Sponsons will not prevent capsizes in rough seas. 2. Sponsons can not be installed seas rough enough to cause a capsize. 3. Sponsons create a false sense of security in inexperienced paddlers, who will paddle in bad conditions with the expectation that sponsons will prevent them from capsizing or will be useful in re-entering upon capsizing. 4. Sponsons are bulky, thus taking up space in very small craft that would be better used for useful rescue and survival equipment. 5. Sponsons present an entanglement risk to persons trying to re-enter in rough water. 6. The only thing that sponsons do is widen the boat, however, wide boats already exist. 7. Sponsons installed prior to entering the water harm the performance of the boat, just as do training wheels on a bicycle. Cheers, Richard Culpeper "Bemis, Scott E." wrote: > With these notes, why are experienced sea kayakers so hostile to the mere > mention of the word "sponsons"? I realize sponsons are not a replacement > for experience, good judgment, practice with rolling, etc. However, when > discussing potential kayak rescues, this hostility is unwarranted in my > opinions. I have not faced this hostility when discussing different kayak > rescues, for example, paddle float rescues. *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
And of course the primary reason that sponsons should not be used is that the most effective way to deal with a capsize is to stay in the boat, roll up, and continue paddling, rather than leaving the boat and risk drowning, not being able to re-enter, etc. Sponsons make rolling up more difficult. With regard to inexerienced paddlers, one would expect that sponsons would be the straw that breaks the camel's back when attempting to roll up in rough conditions. Check out Rich Kulawiek's post as to why sponsons are completely useless to white water paddlers. Those very same reasons apply to sea kayaking because there is no difference between white water kayaking and sea kayaking in rough conditions in which capsize is possible. Cheers, Richard Culpeper *************************************************************************** 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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