On Mon, Oct 12, 2009 at 08:01:17PM -0700, Craig Jungers wrote: > Throw lines are important in white water paddling where a paddler - either > in his kayak or already exited - can be trapped in hydraulics and unable to > swim out. True, and there are other [similar] circumstances in which they're useful, like snagging someone who's being flushed downstream. > And a 50' throw line is practically useless for actually throwing. While in a boat? Certainly. But when standing on shore, no. I routinely practice with 50', 65' and 75' throwbags and have done some drills with double bags (connected end-to-end to yield >100' lines; requires two people and coordinated timing to throw). With 50'-60' lines, I'm just about always within 2-4 feet of the target. With 100' to 150' lines, accuracy drops considerably -- but generally those are used only to span bank-to-bank, so as long as the throw is long enough, it's okay: it doesn't have to be on-target to get the job done. Of course, it's taken several thousand throws to develop that, but it's a useful skill, and one that every river paddler should have. (Hint: standing on dry land, reward yourself with a sip of beer every time the throw bag hits the 1-meter target. This is an excellent way to pass an afternoon. ;-) ) ---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 Sun Dec 06 2009 - 19:23:42 PST
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