"The problem is the media sensationalizing risk taking. I was disturbed by a recent paddling magazine article that glorified a guy surfsking in 60 knot winds and 15 foot surf, only to have his surfski destroyed, and another guy going over a 186 foot waterfall. Is this what we should be striving for? " Duane As a dedicated coward, I couldn't agree with Duane more. And yet - How many of us cheered on Andrew McAuley when the risk he was taking eventaully killed him and no one was totally surprised? Some risks become extreme because they stretch out over a long time. (Sort of like some of the lifestyle risks like smoking cigarettes.) Jamie McEwan pointed out once, about running rapids, if there is only a one in hundred chance of dying on a rapid, we run it without much thought. But then, what of the odds when we run that rapid a hundred times? Jim Tibensky *************************************************************************** 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 Tue Aug 04 2009 - 05:51:22 PDT
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:31:37 PDT