G'Day Craig and Paul, Something I've not covered is the situation regarding the NSW Maritime Code as it applys to kayakers along the coast. Before I describe it from a kayaking perspective thought I'd try to set the background with a scenario and question. One I've been meaning to ask Paddlewisers for a long time. Imagine you are the leader of a group either formally through signing an agreement at the start of a trip or informally 'elected' as the most experienced member in a troublesome situation. There are five of you paddling north on a moonless, cloudless night about a kilometer off the east coast. This stretch of coast is mostly uninhabited cliffs with no landing. The cliff line runs roughly south to north between a harbour and a beach 10km north of the harbour. The beach has no significant surf. . There are bommies every so often within 50m to 200m of the cliffs. There are no bars, or tide races en route. You have left a trip plan with the local coastal patrol. The sea is showing white caps and is 1.5 metres on top of a 2 to 3 metre southerly swell. The wind is around 12 to 15 knots from the North East, expected to turn NW later in the evening. Forecasts in this area are usually reliable. You and your buddy are strong paddlers, very experienced in paddling at night. The three others are strong paddlers well used to these conditions for day time paddling. but their night time paddling has been in harbours and estuaries and they are a bit nervous. All of you know each other, and all have well practiced rescue, roll and self rescue skills in these sea conditions. There are no VHF repeater stations along the cliff. You've chucked your ipods and sunglasses into the sea where they have been stolen by beautiful mermaids:~) * How would you ensure you didn't lose a member of the group * If you did lose a member of the group how much time would you spend searching before calling for help. What methods would you use for the search and for the call? * If it were daytime how much time would you spend searching before calling for help. What methods would you use? BTW occasionally I lead trips like this during the day when called on by my mates, but although I've also led night time paddles I wouldn't lead a paddle like the one described. One or two of my very capable friends do and describe them well. Of course the point I'm trying to make is pretty obvious, but I'm keen to hear a broader view. All the best, PeterO *************************************************************************** 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 Wed Jul 01 2009 - 05:43:50 PDT
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:31:36 PDT