In Australia there is a little known but published early 1960's miliary incident involving folding kayaks and a notorious stretch of water called The Rip at the mouth of Port Phillip Bay in Victoria This empties into Bass Strait which divides Australian mainland from Tasmania.It is an area known for overfalls and currents of 6-8 kts.Approx 5 km wide and the site of many wrecks and multiple drownings.It's what happens when 1950 km of shallow water flows through a 5 km entrance an over the continental shelf. The details are approximately this: Army Reserve (part time) Commandos attempt to paddle across The Rip in a weekend training exercise and weather was bad.Believe 3 paddlers drowned after their kayaks and safety craft (Army Amphibious DUKW from memory of articles) were swamped in high seas + gale conditions.Final outcome was poor planning and judgement + bad weather leading to the fataliites.ie.Should not have been there. Kayaks used (I believe) were a 2 man folder used by Australian Military Forces prior to the introduction of the Klepper Aerius 11 in the later 1960's - which has and is still used by Commando and Special Air Service in Australia.This was my introduction to Kleppers (and have one today.).There are likely to be other instances of several foldables deaths in Australia and may of the military SAS training incidents are not reported for secrecy reasons. Message is that any type of kayak or small craft can be dangerous in bad conditions requiring excellent judgement - often times saying "no" to being there in the first place. How often with adventure sports do we blame the gear rather than the individuals involved (their judgements + abilities or lack of) and the conditions they are doing their activity in. That said the Klepper and other foldables have proven themselves (in the right hands) to be durable, stable, able to carry heavy expedition (and military loads) and have great sea keeping abilities. Leigh Brennan-Smith Melbourne, Australia *************************************************************************** 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 Fri Mar 05 2004 - 06:38:03 PST
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