On Mon, May 12, 2008 at 02:33:16PM -0700, Craig Jungers wrote: > 3. There were several remarks about the kayak rental place not requiring > customers to be dressed for immersion; especially given the dangerous nature > of the area with strong currents and associated eddy lines and the cold > water. Now that's a problem. Having spent my fair share of time in cold water (I paddle whitewater year-round) I know that even with the right gear, acclimization to cold, and good physical conditioning, it's difficult to cover a substantial distance once the effects set in. Few people appreciate this, though, and they seem to appreciate it even less when they're standing on land on a dry, warm, sunny day. And of course rental shops are disinclined to educate them or to require proper clothing since both would be likely to decrease their business. I think the decision by the rental company to permit those people to go out under those conditions without appropriate gear is the root cause of the incident. Everything that happened afterwards was a consequence of it or of the attempts to fix the ensuing problems. But unless someone with regulatory authority gets involved, there's no economic motivation for the rental shop to change its procedures, and thus, it seems, there's a substantial likelihood that similar incidents will occur in the future. > The implication (or maybe just my inference) is that the > male swimmer might have been somewhat irked. Once Upon A Time, I caught up to a recreational canoeist who'd flipped, come out of his boat (no thigh straps so no chance of a roll) and was floating downstream. I barked at him to snag my stern grab loop and towed him to shore -- I think he obeyed the "voice of command" before he had a chance to think about it. Once standing on the bank, he opined that he was just fine and hadn't needed my help, etc. I asked him to walk downstream a bit with me and pointed out the 10-foot drop a hundred yards away, just around a blind corner, with the entire river pouring over it. ---Rsk *************************************************************************** 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 May 12 2008 - 19:34:34 PDT
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