Re: [Paddlewise] Foolishness, miscalculations and human mind (was: Wanted - Kayak Stories)

I see the puppy is progressing nicely. :)

It's interesting to me that new paddlers have some things in common with
heroic adventurers.

Whenever the subject of paddling hazards comes up someone inevitably
mentions skills,  someone else mentions equipment and then another person
brings up judgement. While I agree that all of these are pertinent, I think
the problem becomes more of "you don't know what you don't know". And it
seems to me this applies to experts on an heroic adventure as well as to
inexperienced people facing only a slightly new (to them) hazard.

Judgement requires some idea of the hazard as it relates to you and your
skills and equipment. If you've never put yourself into such a position
before then how would you know the risks? Books like Matt Broze's about
deadly situations and the ongoing articles in the magazines and on the
Internet can all certainly be a source of the knowledge required for
"judgement". But there must be a lot of paddlers who don't expose themselves
to these sources; maybe because they never think of themselves as "sea
kayakers". And they aren't until they try to paddle around, say, Orcas
Island.

We've had some highly skilled paddlers comment that they think there is too
much emphasis placed on equipment rather than on skills. This may be so
especially in view of the simple fact that equipment ads make the magazines
go 'round. But I think that an emphasis on any one facet is a disservice.

Skills are critical but there are situations in which skills alone won't
save you. Equipment is important but equipment alone is not the answer.
Judgement is crucial because only with judgement can one size up a situation
and determine that he/she has neither the skills or the equipment to
continue. The problem with judgement is that it requires education in order
to work. Either experience (been in that situation before; don't want to do
it again) or education in the form of a story (read about that situation
before; don't want to do it myself).

In the case of an heroic adventure when no one has tried the feat before how
does the team determine what skills and equipment are necessary? People are
doing things today that would have been regarded as foolhardy a few decades
ago. Extreme skiing comes to mind where skills and euipment have combined to
allow athletes to do things that would have resulted in certain death
previously. So the team, with no prior knowledge, uses the knowledge they
*do* have and extrapolate that. Newbies may have no basis for that
extrapolation. They may be equally ignorant of skills and equipment and
therefore have no way of exercising judgement.

Instead of a triangle (skills, equipment, judgement) I think we have more of
a paralellogram (skills, equipment, education, judgement). I only use a
parallelogram because it has 4 sides but is not necessarily static in shape.

This is why I think paddlewise and other venues are so important as
discussion centers for educational purposes. And, of course, for fun too.

Thanks for the link. I hope the puppy outgrows his/her penchant for 1am
rambles or you are in trouble. <grin>


Craig Jungers
Moses Lake, WA





On Dec 18, 2007 1:24 AM, Ari Saarto <asaarto_at_elisanet.fi> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I just read during a longish trip 'We Cannot Fail' by Geoff Powter
> (Robinson, London 2007; published also in US around 2006 by the
> Mountaineers books).
>
> The back cover text boasts about 'the dark psychology of heroic
> adventure' and truly, Powter makes quite good profiles of more than
> 10 (mostly) tragic adventurers.
>
> Among others, included are well known Merriwether Lewis, John
> Franklin, Robert Falcon Scott and balloonist Solomon Andrie. The
> range of stories varies from North Pole to South Pole, from European
> Alps to Mt. Everest, from some ridiculous attempts to circumnavigate
> the globe by boat to extreme long distance solo flights in the 1930's.
>
> It is a thought provoking read, though you might want to disagree
> with the writer sometimes. About twenty illustrations makes reading
> more entertaining, but I would have wanted to get even longer and
> more detailed descriptions and stories (only 245 pages).
>
> Cheers,
>
> Ari Saarto
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