: G,Day Robert,

: I've just read your account , and would suggest after that episode ,you now
: only have 4 of your 9 lives left. So be carefull !!

: Thanks for the timley saftey reminder, and although in my case its Sea
: Kayaking only, I'm sure we can all do with an annual refresher course to
: keep us from getting too cockey.

: By the way, as I mentioned I'm into Sea Kayaking only ,no whitewater as we
: dont have any handy.

: So what is the recommended position if you do get seperated from your kayak
: in rapids ?

: Floating with legs pointed downstream sounds like a great way to get legs
: caught under rocks etc ?

: All the best to everyone on the Forum for a SAFE 2008 .

: Regards Paul

: ...........................................................................

In whitewater you want to be floating on your back with your feet
near the surface of the water and pointing downstream, so you can
use your feet to push off and away from rocks and obstacles.

Sea kayaking is more dangerous than whitewater.

Whitewater paddlers go out looking for trouble every time they paddle.

There is a long learning and crash and burn curve. You start on
mild whitewater and if you survive and have fun, progress to tougher
rapids. You must wear cold water gear, a PFD and a helmet.
You must learn get your face forward on the deck when you go over
so your helmet protects your head from rocks.
You must learn to hold on to your paddle and boat so you don't loose
them. And you must learn to roll if you ever plan to paddle rough
rapids.

All these things become honed, time after time until they are reflexes.

And as bad as it can get in a bad WW swim, the shore is not far away.

So, yes, whitewater seems more dangerous on the face of it, and it
certainly would be for a novice to jump into a class four river alone,
but whitewater paddlers doing those class four and + rivers honed the skills
over years.

Sea kayakers can go out paddling for years and do not develop the skills a WW
paddler must learn the first season, to survive.

The power and quickness of a storm and 300 yards of water to swim, will
squash the unprepared sea kayaker in an instant.

It is the common lack of repeated worst conditions practice and the relentless
power of open water weather that makes sea kayaking more dangerous.

How many times a year do you practice rolls, self rescues, wet-exits, group
rescues? How often do you paddle 20+ miles? How often do you paddle for
hours into the wind?

If you don't practice these kinds of paddling skills, then you need to
honestly evaluate the skills you do have and rely more heavily on JUDGEMENT
to assess the worst case scenario to guide your paddling choices.

Of course there is the problem of experienced paddlers becoming too
arrogant about their abilities and getting into trouble too.

We all seem to need to get seriously trashed, to have a real
perspective of our paddling skills and judgement. Again, this is one
big advantage WW paddlers have over sea kayakers. WW paddlers get trashed
all the time.

A good point made in the most recent Sea Kayaker magazine in the article
about "Cold Shock" was about the psychology of survival. "People tend to
reduce their awareness of personal threat to a level that they feel
comfortable with". The article also spoke of "self-denial" in flaws of
judgement we clearly see in many of these accident reports. "If your life
is routinely comfortable and uneventful, your perception of a threat may
be minimized by a feeling of having the odds on your favor- "It will never
happen to me." The response to an imminent threat is generally, and
surprisingly, one of inactivity and a failure to take any positive action."

Like the article in the same Sea Kayaker about " Crossing Lake Michigan".

When I told my wife (from Chicago) about the guy trying to paddle
from east to west, the first thing she said was, "Why would he paddle
against the prevailing winds?"

Duh! Why didn't he think of that?

Please learn, practice and paddle safe!

All the best,
Rob