I have not followed the PFD discussion closely, but wish to report our findings: In Finland (Europe) last year 2006 only 4 people died while kayaking or canoeing. - Two took an old canoe from a cottage and paddled out to the sea. They had no experience, no PFDs and were supposedly drunk. May, very cold water. - One man kayaking alone was found dead, the story says not if he had PFD or not, but he was the only kayaker dying in 2006. Summer, the water max 20 degrees Celcius - Man fishing in an open canoe, the time when lakes started to freeze, got overboard and died. If I remember correctly, he had a PFD but the water temperature was around freezing point. In the last ten years we counted that around fifteen persons have died, out of those only two paddling enthusiasist (one alone on the open sea, drowned in shallow water, no exact reason found, slipping suspected; the other an experienced paddler paddling alone, no PFD, maybe a medical problem), the rest of the cases had each three of the following charasterics: - drunk - alone - no experience - no PFD or were fishing or hunting on freezing lakes and capsized. It is maybe informative to state, that our paddling season is from April/May to November/December, depending on when the sea and lakes freeze, and the main season is June-August. The water is never too warm, it is exceptional even in the summer if water will be warmer than + 20 Celcius. Helsinki is in the South of Finland, and on the same latitude as Anchorage (please check, I am not quite sure), North of the country reaches about 500 km over the Arctic Circle. But: trained paddlers and paddlers in groups led by experienced paddlers do not seem to get in trouble over here. Also the club tradition is very strong here, and seems to transfer nicely the best practices and maybe also good and safe attitudes to newer paddlers. Anna Leena Lind Sea kayaker, Helsinki (I am also a member in a Paddling Safety Committee shared by paddlers from Finnish Ccanoe Federation, other outdoors and training organizations and government offices like Coast Guard, Ministry of Environment etc. Most of the info was gathered in this context) www.iki.fi/alli *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
Anna L Lind wrote: > or were fishing or hunting on freezing lakes and capsized. In Canada, rescuers often find that hunters or fishers have their trousers unzipped...they stood up in the boat toi urinate, and fell into cold water. People never learn. GaryJ *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
Quoting "Gary J. MacDonald" <garyj_at_rogers.com>: > Anna L Lind wrote: > >> or were fishing or hunting on freezing lakes and capsized. > > In Canada, rescuers often find that hunters or fishers have their > trousers unzipped...they stood up in the boat toi urinate, and fell > into cold water. People never learn. > > GaryJ This is a terrific endorsement of a piece of kayaking gear called a pee bottle. At least it works reliably for males. Brad *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
> In Canada, rescuers often find that hunters or fishers have their > trousers unzipped...they stood up in the boat toi urinate, and fell into > cold water. People never learn. > *************************************************************************** --Same is observed in PA, where it's called "open-fly syndrome". Usually associated with beerfishing... Joe P. *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
When the Upper Delaware River became Wild & Scenic and NPS established a presence, they kept statistics on paddler- related drownings. Since 1981 when this started there have been about 38 such drownings. In all but two, NO Pfd was worn. In the remaining two, the Pfd was worn incorrectly and slipped off the victims so were ineffectual. Put another way, Not One Pfd-wearing paddler drowned there in 26 years... Joe P. > [Original Message] > I have not followed the PFD discussion closely, but wish to report our > findings: > > In Finland (Europe) last year 2006 only 4 people died while kayaking or > canoeing. *************************************************************************** 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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