Kirk Olsen once gave me a golden tip on where to store a fleece hat for winter paddling in case I dunked and needed it fast. Stick it between your life vest and chest. I have had to use this before in real life and it worked wonderfully. A carefully folded paddle float could be kept the same way and would be be available in an instant. I think if a paddler has any trouble using/holding on to/deploying a paddle float they probably wont succeed in using it in real conditions. Their buddies will have to get them back in the saddle and going again. Pick your buddies wisely and keep your deck as clean as possible. The only thing on my deck is a spare GP. If I break my Aleut or lose my grip on it I am certain that short of a broken bone I can remove it from under the bungies and roll up with it. Absolutely certain. The broken bone scenario consists of punching out and hoping for rescue. I should be able to walk in through the surf and hobble over to really hot coed, make her think I am her uncle in black neoprene and shorts, and hope she has a cell phone. But I digress... Jim et al > If someone else needed help, I would do a boat-to-boat assisted rescue > rather than dig out the paddle float. As someone else pointed out, > it is > faster. > Chuck Holst *************************************************************************** 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 May 03 2007 - 11:16:39 PDT
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:31:24 PDT