Some can be lucky for a long time. A friend's father visited here last week and told me about taking his plastic recreational kayak out of Trinidad alone in "10-foot" swells. No drysuit (or even drytop), no practice at self-rescue, no spray skirt (!), no paddle float, no VHF. Nice guy and very intelligent (passed his Professional Engineer exam as a CE in his 50s without having gone to university). He did have a PFD (I'm pretty sure). We had ourselves a little paddle on the lake (I let him use the Express and the Wing) and chatted a bit about these issues. But it's difficult for people - even very intelligent people - to get a handle on them. And I should know, because for a long time I would just wear the same things sea-kayaking as I wore when white-water kayaking without a thought as to the differences in boats, conditions, and how far you might have to swim to shore. He was pretty impressed with the Express but didn't much like the Wing. 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 Mon Sep 10 2007 - 11:47:37 PDT
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