To me, the most telling aspect of his plight was his quote "I had never self-rescued alone". That seems to show a lapse in judgment that I can't see improving under life threatening conditions. Mark -----Original Message----- other thoughts on this. He went upwind in heavy seas to do his paddle-float rescue. I've never tried one of these in high winds/seas but I can see some negatives about going upwind not downwind and only two positives. First the positives: 1. Going upwind means your kayak will not drift onto you. 2. Breaking seas don't break in your face. Negatives: 1. If you're upwind your body will move with the current while your kayak (mostly empty) will be pushed by the wind. Better hold on tight. 2. Upwind means that the paddle float is extended into the area of steepest water (wave face). This would increase the capsize moment requiring you to keep more of your body weight upwind. 3. If the upwind paddle float gets too high it could be caught by the wind to greatly increase capsize moment requiring even more weight on upwind side of the kayak. 4. Wind force on your body tends to also increase capsize moment (away from the stabilizing influence of the paddle float). Craig Jungers Moses Lake, 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 Sun Apr 12 2009 - 11:38:25 PDT
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