Longtime teacher here with three comments: Rich is spot on: nothing sticks unless the learner is motivated to acquire the knowledge/skill/technique and renews his/her learning regularly. Teachers who assess retention a year (or two) after instruction will know this. Would any of us want a surgeon operating on us who had not kept his skills and knowledge up? Could be a matter of life and death, just like a PFD. Re: more PFD's on PWC's: many states have aggressively worked on this through various means, as have manufacturers and rental agencies. The paddling community has done piddly-ass nothing in comparison. Re: PFD's for kids: many states have free PFD's at the ramp. In Oregon this has been very successful, through the cooperation and assistance of the Power Squadron, the USCG, and PFD manufacturers. The latter have contributed many of the the PFD's I see around here. See last sentence in previous paragraph. And one suggestion: make yourself personally available as a resource to local schools, scouting organizations, kids camps, etc., as a role model to show kids what behavior and skills make for safe paddling. I've been well-received at the local Power Squadron for my experience as a paddler. They honestly want to reduce drowning deaths. Ditto USCG Auxiliary. -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR *************************************************************************** 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 03 2010 - 10:11:09 PDT
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