Re: [Paddlewise] disaster in the making

Matt posted (snip):
>>It might be significant that the deadline for the organizer to decide and
announce if the race will happen this year is April Fools day...I know of no
paddlers who have fully paddled the coast between Cordova and Icy Strait...I
wonder if Oscar Chalupski and Joe Glickman know their good names are being
used (as people who have offered support) to promote this fantasy race.<<

I think with proper support, the cooperation of the local authorities, and
some kind of system for forced downtimes in marginal weather, it could be a
great race. This would require above-average organizational skills,
experienced race marketers, and lots of money for support crews, etc. These
attributes seem lacking to say the least from what I've read. (I'll be up in
that area in a couple of years hopefully, but taking it slow and solo in a
new boat).

The February Sea Kayaker has a great spotlight article on the Molokai race
by Glickman. Conditions were a wee bit tense by the sounds of it (20 foot
swell, rebound waves five miles out, wind), but everyone was taken care of
when needed.

I had been slowly working with Eastern Outdoors to write an article about
the Fundy Adventure race tragedy a couple of years ago spoken about here on
PW. I got tied down with the organizer over his legal hassles. I never push
on these articles. I had wanted to concentrate on telling the story from the
perspective of the paddler who died, and give the race organizers a chance
to tell their side of the story. As it turned out, Explore magazine ran a
full story without the race organizer's blessing co-opting my efforts. The
article was rather searing in spots.

One common thread with respect to race events that go wrong is the lack of
due diligence on the part of the organizers. I doubt the guy wanting to
promote the race in Alaska even knows what those words mean.

Doug Lloyd
Victoria BC
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