: kayakers (even experienced ones) more often go out with inadequate
: equipment, lack of training and skills, improperly set up equipment, lack
: of group protection mentality/knowledge, and awareness of their
: environment of any sporting group I know.
: Any ideas why?

Hi Randy -
Just a couple of thoughts. Maybe it has something to do with what I call situational awareness. Some of these sea kayaking incidents (I've read Deep Trouble, too) remind me of the fact patterns of cross-country skiing accidents I'd hear about every winter during my 15 years in Colorado. (I owned a ski and bike tuning shop and a close friend was on a number of grisly Alpine Search and Rescue missions as an EMT).

Whatever the paddler's or skier's experience, the situational threat is masked by the apparent benign conditions presented at the beginning of the adventure. Nice day, calm conditions, well within the skillset of the paddler or the skier. Couple that with the, "it always happens to the other person" mindset that everyone gets from time to time, and you have a formula for disaster. Also, it can be really hard to resist what looks like good conditions. None of us want to "cry wolf" and miss a good time. Then the situation changes and the paddler/skier can't respond to the threat, either rough seas and wind, avalanche and storm.

Playing in the fog on a small inland lake or pond would have been a non-event good time for those two young ladies.

I've started to use a tried and true business decision-making technique when it comes to paddling. Upside and downside risk assessment. It's simple. You ask yourself, "What's the best thing that can happen by making this decision (In this case, paddling)?" Now, "What's the WORST thing that can happen if I make this decision?" Those two simple questions can be very useful and sobering applied to paddling scenarios. I'm no paddling expert, but asking myself the second question, looking at the whitecaps on Lake Erie this past Saturday kept me on shore.

Jim