Scott said: I do not believe that "more gadgets" is the solution to safer sea kayaking. Being able to accurately evaluate the situation, and the risks, and then honestly weigh them against ones skill and equipment is what is needed. With all due respect (honest!), Scott, I think you are just off base. No, more gadgets do not make one safe. But neither does accurately weighing the risks after evaluation. Sometimes weird things happen, completely out of the blue. In Maine last summer I was leading a group of eight teens and four adults in Casco Bay. Clear day, few clouds, little wind, steady temperature. No changes in conditions for five hours. Then 20 mph or more winds all of a sudden. Scattered our group, challenged the ability and stability of the other adults who were in singles, but not, happily, the kids in their doubles. Without radios to tell everyone what the plan was, I would have been pretty stressed and the others pretty unsafe. And if things went bad and we couldn't handle the situation, radios would have brought help in minutes, since the bay is full of lobsterboats and sailers. I hate carrying stuff like pumps, paddle floats and radios. On my own I figure I will not be likely to use them because I have never been knocked out of my sea kayak. (Whitewater is a different story!) But in a group, or out on open water, as opposed to the river paddling I do at home, all that stuff goes with me. I'd hate for my wife to be a widow just because I didn't have a radio. And what if I come upon an emergency and want to get help? Do you wear a pfd? Or is that also "extraneous" gear? And if it isn't, where do you draw the line? Of all the safety stuff we carry that is not a pfd and sprayskirt, I think a radio is tops in importance. My unhumble opinion. Jim Tibensky *************************************************************************** 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 Mar 15 2007 - 06:22:45 PDT
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:31:23 PDT