Re: [Paddlewise] Trips - hosts and leaders

Nick Schade said: If you really want to lead club trips, do it. Your
risk of being sued is about the same as you drowning while paddling
alone. Sure, shit happens, and in their grief survivors may lash out,
but don't blame someone else if you really just don't want to be
bothered. It is your decision and your responsibility.



I second that.  

The whitewater club I belong to had a president about twenty years ago
who often led trips for club members.  One place she took them was the
Gauley in West Virginia, a significant whitewater challenge.  The Prez
couldn't handle herself in Class III water, let alone rescue anyone in
Class IV.  She once confided to me that she "loves running blind drops."
 She was a fool.  No one died, no one got seriously injured, no one got
sued.  But a whole lot of people quit the sport, after being scared out
of their wits.  

I've been on commercial sea kayak expeditions where I was by far a
better paddler than any of the guides.

So, who do you trust?  The answer, I think, is no one that you haven't
researched.

I am happy to lead trips and do it often.  I volunteer with a youth
counseling service to lead kayak trips.  We have gone to Glacier Bay,
Alaska, to Georgian Bay, Ontario, to Lake Powell.  We go to Maine every
summer.  With teens who are mostly court committed to the trip.  Lots of
risk, but lots of reward.

You get insurance, you get training, you practice, you plan and then you
decide for yourself how far to go with risk. I would guess that most of
the people who would never lead a trip learned how to paddle from
someone who was willing to take the risk.  

So leave it to those of us who are comfortable with it. But, I think,
blaming lawyers is really misguided.  Lawyers are tradesmen (and women)
who are hired to do a job at the request of someone.  There might be a
few ambulance chasers out there, but I've never run into a kayak chaser.

Jim Tibensky
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