Re: [Paddlewise] Safety Articles

Second round from me on this one.

I like them concise and to the point partly because I mainly want the 
grist.  But, also, I think pungent, concise prose gets read.  Blowsy 
overblown stuff does not.

I rarely learn anything new from the articles because I've been reading 
them a long time, and it seems the same errors are made over and over.  So 
while it is good to identify and illuminate those errors -- for graybeards 
it gets repetitive.

One useful addition might be a list of references at the end of each where 
readers can go to learn more.  The Gronseth/Broze book, Deep Trouble, 
should probably be listed at the end of every one.

I agree with Craig that some incidents demand more depth, if the 
circumstances are involved.  For example, Andrew Emlen did a bang-up job 
some five years ago on two guys who misread a chart on the lower Columbia 
and got stranded in the pucker brush/swamp overnight, less than two miles 
from their launch site, compounded their error by not understanding tides, 
and then tried to _walk_ out across a spruce swamp.  Ugh.

Last thought:  the folks who need to read and heed these articles are not 
reading them.  If we are serious about reducing deaths and near-drownings 
amongst new kayakers, we need to be more forceful about getting the info to 
new folks, at a time when it means something to them.  Rentals and 
purchases are pretty much the best window of opportunity, exploited to 
highly variable degree.  Later, it is paddling groups, of the real or 
virtual sort, which seem to have the greatest potential for extending the 
learning experience.

Yeah, yeah, I know.  Too many words.

-- 
Dave Kruger
Astoria, OR
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