Nick's comment on gear versus training is just so right: The skill of avoiding trouble is just as pertinent as the hard skills, like rolling, and all of us sometimes get it wrong. Which can be fatal, just as crossing a street can be, if you do it at the wrong moment. Life is a gamble, and we don't always get it right, no matter how much we train for it. When Hans Lindemann crossed the Atlantic in his Klepper (after having done the same thing in an open dugout canoe) he had trained yoga for months, as he knew (being a doctor interested in human endurance) that keeping you whits under duress is the most important thing of all. Things sometimes goes wrong - there is nothing fair and equal in life - but if you have acquired the skill of taking it easy when you're in a jam the chances of survival is so much higher. I've been aboard a ship that caught fire (so called ferry disaster), after an arsonist set it alight (he died together with 52 others the next time he tried the same stunt) in the middle of the North Sea. The weather was excellent, and the help we got from West German naval units, and so called fire ships (modified fishing vessels) from Ekofisk was first class, and even though some people died, most took it very calmly, did what the crew told us, and eventually things were almost back to normal - a few passengers were dead, and the ship looked a mess, most people managed to take it easy, while a few had to be flown off after having suffered nervous breakdowns, heart attacks, et cetera. The guy who totally lost it was the captain, while the first mate was calm as you get - just as the chief, who organized the fire-fighting (unsuccessfully, sad to say - but eventually the West German Navy guys put out the fire that engulfed the front part of the ship. I remember coming onto deck together with a British guy - after a while we found out that we both were fire fighters by profession - he a full pro, and I a semi, and we both realized that neither of us could help out, as neither knew our way around the ship, nor were used to the equipment used onboard, and so on (the bartender of the night before struggled the night through as one of the smoke divers that unsuccessfully tried to put out the fire - impressive stamina). After twelve hours the fire was out, and, sadly, an elderly couple, on their 50th anniversary cruise, were dead, but the rest of us were safe, including the race horses down in the car deck. Taking it easy while in a jam an ex-mercenary taught me - a very important skill :-)! *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
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