[Paddlewise] River Death from July

I was just reading an article about Shannon Christy who died in a river 
accident back in July and it made me think of a couple things I thought 
I'd bring up. Namely, the size of her helmet and the baggyness of her 
drysuit! I don't paddle rivers and I don't own a drysuit, so I'm no 
expert on the subject, but I don't like the design on this helmet. It 
seems to me the built in flare around the whole helmet and especially 
the hard visor could create a lot of drag in the hydraulics of the 
river. In the video posted with the story, the helmet she's wearing 
looks even bigger than this one here. I know just in surfing small waves 
that my helmet can get discombobulated in a drop and it seems much more 
form fitted than this one and also has a floppy material type visor. 
Also, while wearing a paddling jacket in the surf yesterday, I was 
bothered by the way the extra fabric seemed to impede my movement. I 
thought that if I wore a jacket often, I'd want some way to tighten the 
loose material along my arms, like some type of gaiter. I can see that 
that might give you more protection from the rocks, but is there a cost 
to it and couldn't there be an easier way? I hate to even think of the 
hydraulic forces she had to endure, but it seems to me these factors 
coundn't have helped. Drysuits are great for saving you from 
hypothermia, but what about the other issues out on the water. Thought 
it worthy a discussion.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2442083/Extreme-kayaker-Shannon-Christy-killed-2-days-60-Minutes-Sports-profile.html

Mark Sanders
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