RE: [Paddlewise] Knives and tethers

Joe wrote:
>Fortunately the only time I really used it in such a fashion was when I cut away entangling monofilament from the legs of a trapped bird...
And
> Unfortunately he accidentally stapped the victim's femoral artery and he bled to death.  It's now recommended to cut a sprayskirt open Behind the paddler.

Bob wrote
> a story spread that a rafting company made a number of their customers sick when they used their river knives for preparing food.
Peter,

I've been off skiing with my two teens last few days = didn't get tip follow up with you here. I do tether my PFD knife; I use 1/8th shock cord specifically, about 16 inches. It's all a compromise. No, I can't throw my knife with a tether (though I suppose I could sling it like a rubber band elastic!). 

Peter, to me there is no upsidedown or rightside up in sea kayaking. There's no swimming and none-swimming option. It's a water sport. Deal with it. It's a cold-water sport here. Deal with it. Sometimes I'm immersed, sometimes there's no air temporarily while rotating on axis and off. Deal with it. Sometimes there's elements at work, unpredictable ones conspiring to make life difficult on, in, or under water. Deal with it. And I sat "deal with it" not in a pejorative way. Rather, equip yourself, train yourself, find the compromise in gear/expense/skill practice - whatever. Tethering a knife just works for me. I've written and interviewed and read reports and spoken with authorities and coroners and experience extremis events enough to know what is reasonable.

Safe paddling always.

Doug 
Doug' wrote
> Anybody wondering if anyone has ever used a knife in extremis upside-down might want to also wonder what the difference is between using a knife in a must-complete-this-cutting-task emergency right-side-up versus underwater.
And
> I carry four knives on my PFD! Beat that Brad!! One is big KA BAR Marine knife and the others are a set of three identical Ninja throwing knives. I decided to go to throwing knives after playing with pussy-kayaker Tekna and Gerber models for decades;


G'day,

I've written one or two spoofs in my time but that doesn't stop me from being a most gullible reader! Doug' you had me believing in your throwing knives for a third of your post! Regarding entanglement upside down vs. right side up. I've seen and heard of a knife being essential for a rescuer to cut free lines tangled on a rescuee's kayak but have never heard of anyone having to use a knife when capsized, although its often given in Oz as an example. I imagine this emphasis is because with two or three minutes available in extremis a knife would be the quickest and perhaps only method possible. 

After Bob's post on knife hygiene I'm starting to wonder about cutting oysters off rocks! "It was a bold man who first ate an oyster" (J.Swift). 

Like Joe, the only time I've used my knife in a rescue was on a beach in the Whitsundays when a sea eagle became entangled in a fishing line, the fisherman were just ignoring it and I was seriously angry, took my knife out and went to cut the bird free. Fortunately by the time I got there the eagle had freed itself and flew away. So did the fishermen. I must have looked wilder than normal holding the knife:~)

The tally on tethering was four Paddlewisers who tethered and five who didn't with no accounts of tethering related accidents but a deadly incident described by Joe.

Thanks for all the feedback.

All the best, PeterO
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