I've been watching this thread closely and find myself nodding agreement at virtually all the points. Legislators will forever be trying to pass laws limiting exposure to danger just because that's what they think the public wants and that gets them re-elected. It's second nature to a bureaucrat to write a new regulation as a knee-jerk reaction to almost any negative situation. That's how you fix things, isn't it? Write a new rule? I think there are two givens: 1. It would be ideal if every paddler in every kayak knew how to wet exit and had practiced it more than once; and, 2. This is not going to happen. It's not going to happen for a bucketful of reasons. Not the least of which is that no one, certainly not me, wants to get wet and cold and tired and *then* go out and paddle. I'm willing to bet that if you take the average new paddler out onto cold water on a cold day and ask him or her if they know how to wet exit they'll look you straight in the eye and lie. Like someone said, most of them don't even want to get their feet wet, let alone swim out. It's just unfortunate that the very tendency of a kayak to capsize is the one thing that makes them the most fun to paddle. A completely stable kayak would be about as much fun to paddle as a dock. Fortunately most kayaks manage to combine stability and instability so that, really, most of the time they stay upright. But almost every kayak with a person seated in it will be at its most stable when it's inverted. So we all deal with this trait as best we can because it's not going to change. Neither is human nature. Since almost all of us at one time or another takes newbies out in a kayak we all have to make some sort of judgement call as to what sort of preliminary indoctrination to give them. And there must be a zillion variables. Will we be paddling on a small inland lake or an open bay? What's the weather likely to be? Is the water warm or cold? Is the newbie adventurous or timid? Does (s)he have any medical problems? Does (s)he have any psychological problems? I'm thinking of a simple way of distilling all the variables into one rule: If you want them to wear a spray skirt then you should think seriously about having them practice a wet exit. If they aren't wearing a spray skirt then, really, 90% of the problem of swimming out is eliminated; without a spray skirt if the boat turns over almost everyone will just swim out. I have a big open-cockpit Loon that I put all first-timers in. It doesn't even have a spray skirt and if it did it would be 4 feet long. Trust me, no one has ever had a problem getting out of that Loon. Kayaks paddle just fine without a spray skirt and on a nice day the worst that will happen is that drops from the paddle will cool off their knees. In fact, most newbies would much prefer to paddle without a spray skirt. For one thing, they can get at their binoculars, cameras and water bottles a lot easier. If weather or water conditions make you think that paddling without a spray skirt would be an issue, then tuck 'em in but make sure they know how to get out. Doug Lloyd wrote what I consider to be the definitive article on entrapment. You can read it at: http://www.seakayakermag.com/2003/03April/ Entrapment/Entrapment_01.htm.<http://www.seakayakermag.com/2003/03April/Entrapment/Entrapment_01.htm> Craig Jungers Royal City, WA *************************************************************************** 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 Tue Jun 12 2007 - 09:29:33 PDT
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