"Nick Schade" <nick_at_guillemot-kayaks.com> wrote: > I won't try to justify the ACA in grouping white water with sea > kayaking, however at this point most accident statistics glom all > canoeing and kayaking into one group. Even if it is not perfect, > differentiating between canoes and kayaks is at least an improvement > over existing record keeping. [snip] > If we don't want to burdensome regulation on our sport, the best bet is > to work to see that the casual paddler is safer. It is very unlikely > that any mandatory certification would require learning a specific > rescue technique. It would most like require you spend a few hours in a > class room then pass a written test. [snip] Yeah, I suspect you have it nailed, Nick. If it were like hunter safety requirements before use of firearms to hunt, I'd be a lot more inclined to support the concept -- firearms can hurt others, more than they hurt the person pulling the trigger. The chance that a befuddled paddler (even on a WW river) will hurt someone else with his/her craft is pretty slim -- so the rationale here is similar to that for helmets for motorcycle riders (or, in Oregon, under-16 bicycle riders): using the headgear reduces expensive and debillitating head injuries, reducing the overall cost of health care. Which we all sort of "share" whether protected by our own health insurance or not. I don't like being told I have to wear a helmet if I ride a mototcycle, but I do see the stake we all have in making sure head injuries are minimized. In my own speckled introduction to paddling, it was actually el stupido mongo WW rafting on Class IV - V water (with no preparation) that could have killed me at a young age. That I did not Darwin out is a testament to luck more than skill. A little mandatory instruction on what the minimum safety requirements for WW rating might have prevented me from my near-death experiences. (Yeah, there were two of them -- I learn slowly; both are so embarrassing I can't share them, even now, some 35 years later. Ooof.) -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR *************************************************************************** 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 Apr 17 2003 - 07:09:25 PDT
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