[Paddlewise] gear vs training

>From Scott:

"take the focus away from the equipment and put back where it belongs - on
the skills."

 

I agree that skills are the foundation on which our well being is absolutely
dependent.

When I took up white water kayaking, I knew from my years of white water
canoeing, that I HAD TO LEARN TO ROLL THE BOAT! All other white water skills
depended on my learning this skill. You just cannot have one capsize equal
one swim on a white water river. On white water, kayak paddlers must wear
PFDs and wetsuits. No gear-no paddling! We have what they call spring
runoff. The water runs high and cold.

 

Skills are essential for sea kayakers. With such training, swims and other
troubles are not so common. Our wetsuits/drysuits are for accidents that we
train to avoid. It is an unfortunate truth, that in spite of our best
preparation and training, ACCIDENTS HAPPEN. As the TEXAS governor said the
other day, such accidents are AN ACT of GOD. In as much as we ARE NOT going
to prevent such accidents, our next option is to plan for dealing with the
event if it should happen (Who could have guessed that such an accident
would occur? Did you hear about the whale that capsized a canoe out on Cape
Cod a couple weeks ago?) 

 

We cannot accept that one accident equal one death merely because we refused
to concede that such an event might occur. It turns out that the minimal
standard is that we dress to swim, wear a PFD and carry a communications
device (VHF). We have rescued paddlers not dressed to swim-we saved him but
the trip was over. We have rescued a paddler that refused to wear a pfd. He
was scared to hell there in the path of a dozen big racing sail boats in
Narragansett Bay, RI. We saved him-no problem. In a short time he thought of
some reason he had to go back to shore immediately. The trip was over. We
cannot accept this crap! 

 

We scale our preparation to account for dealing with trouble if it should
happen completely by surprise, despite our best training and preparation!

 

Chuck Sutherland
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