A few of us were wondering why we never hear of kayak fatalities involving folding kayaks. We could only think of Fritz Romer's disappearance. I checked Broze/Gronseth's Deep Trouble, and could not even find a nonfatal incident involving a folder. And, I do not recall any incidents in Sea Kayaker since Deep Trouble came out. What gives? Do paddlers of folders use better judgment ... have guardian angels ... or just fail to tell others of their mistakes? -- 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/ ***************************************************************************
> What gives? Do paddlers of folders use better judgment ... have guardian > angels ... or just fail to tell others of their mistakes? Do you remember the very fatal incident with "Lone Madsen" during Greenland paddling? She died after capsizing in suddenly strong winds, while her friend was unable to paddle back to her. VERY sad and in some way unbelieveable story. Don4t remember where the infos are available in english. Carlo Schagen wrote an essay about it, but not in english. What4s about the foldable-crash with Jon Turk in Patagonia. Just to mention a more popular one. Or a very historical one with Fridtjof Nansen 1896 on his incident with a walrus on Franz-Josel-Land. Or an old story I remember from an 20 year old adventure almanach. Two Germans on Spitzbergen, one folable capsizing and lost in strong fallwinds. aso. ... Go and ask the Foldable Forum unter www.faltboot.de/forum you might be surprised... ;-)) *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
----- Original Message ----- From: "Jochen Grikschat" <grikschat_at_web.de> To: "Dave Kruger" <kdruger_at_pacifier.com>; "Paddlewise" <paddlewise_at_paddlewise.net> Sent: Thursday, March 04, 2004 4:03 AM Subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Fatal Accidents Involving Folding Kayaks? > > What gives? Do paddlers of folders use better judgment ... have guardian > > angels ... or just fail to tell others of their mistakes? > > Do you remember the very fatal incident with "Lone Madsen" during Greenland > paddling? She died after capsizing in suddenly strong winds, while her > friend was unable to paddle back to her. > VERY sad and in some way unbelieveable story. Lone Madsen was not in a folding kayak but there have been a number of deaths in folding kayaks: --A fellow floating in double Klepper in Jamaica Bay (in the Queens borough of NYC) was killed when a speedboat ran over him. He was laying down in the boat snoozing. This was in the 1980s. --Another incident involved a couple in double Klepper somewhere on the Pacific Coast. Both died. I can't remember the exact circumstances but it involved exposure after a capsize. I don't believe they were particularly good on getting back in, which is relatively easy in a double Klepper since they remain quite stable when filled with water. There have been quite a few capsizes in folding kayaks but mostly when being sailed. As for the better judgment/smarts of folding kayakers, I have over the years found that it is often lacking. Chief lapses are things like: not wearing PFDs (albeit this is improving somewhat) based on a mistaken belief that they can never tip over; not filling their boats with sufficient flotation since they have sponsons (sponsons will help keep a boat afloat but not with enough freeboard once re-entered); failure to practice rescues (belief that they won't capsize); and failure to wear cold water gear or even much in the way of waterproof paddling gear. Guardian angels are another matter and do make themselves known often to cover such mistakes as above...but don't count on it!!! ralph diaz *************************************************************************** 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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