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Sea Kayaks Techniques Bulletin Board
Re: Kayak safety
Posted By: Tom In Response To: Re: Sponsons (Lee)
Date: Friday, 22 December 2000, at 10:18 a.m.
I just came onto this chat room and yours was the first message I read on safety. The Coast Guard did a study of boating accidents that was published last August. The leading fatalities in boat accidents were kayakers and canoers! This begged the first question: were they hit by powerboaters? Don't know. Although the first numbers published by the USCG were wrong (off by TWO decimal places!), paddlers still took the lead. You can check BOAT/US magazine's November 2000, issue or look for more information on this particular survey in an upcoming Paddlesports Industry article by Francis Zera. assoc. editor of Canoe and Kayak magazine. I think its coming out in January, '01.
: The kayaking industry as a whole, with some exceptions, does not take safety
: Hi Ray, I'm wading into the liability/personal responsibility issue on this
: topic. I've raced bicycles,owned a bike shop, helped promote races, and
: now work in the "sea kayak" industry as an instructor and also
: for a small company on the fringe of the sea kayak businesses. In my
: experience there are more individuals threatening their own lives and the
: lives of others coming from their own values and life experience than
: there are of manufacturers and retailers "not informing customers of
: the risks involved": Just out of curiousity do you know anybody that operates a motorized vehicle
: while talking on a cell phone?: What could "the kayaking industry as a whole" do to take safety as
: seriously as it could?: Anybody that advocates lawsuits as a means to recognize risk has the cart so
: far ahead of the horse as to be not in the same county, or at least
: understand what the road is for. Sorry for my high horse but I'm still
: struck by the tragedy of my neighbor that has a Bayliner from suing the
: restaurant where he slipped and injured his back, a 300hp gas speed boat
: for a guy that walks with a cane!. I knew an ex-bike racer that sued the
: bike shop because he wiped out at high speed on his mtn. bike, he had the
: 26x1.95 tires pumped to 85psi, the court tossed it out but the shop owner
: was screwed by this customer then later by the insurance co.,, oh the shop
: owners personal assets were probably $100k the ex-racer fireman probably
: worth $400k with four times the income with his professional wife.: I guess what I'm getting at is that when people "play" they have to
: look to themselves first for taking safety seriously. People buy toys,
: they can't buy responsibility, information, risk assesment or good
: judgement.
: Back to my original question, what could this industry do to take safety
: seriously as it could?
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