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Sea Kayaks Techniques Bulletin Board
Re: Poor Preparation and Negligence
Posted By: Don Flowers In Response To: Re: Poor Preparation and Negligence (Ong Yong Hui)
Date: Wednesday, 2 March 2005, at 3:42 p.m.
My experience is that the more moving parts, the more likely it won't work. Reliance on a motor boat likely would give a false sense of security and lead to decisions such as paddling too far off shore, not in a tight enough group, in worse weather than would normally be done, in empty boats which have a higher centre of gravity and are more unstable. Even if the cat had been working, it likely would not have been an effective search vessel with a half a dozen boats tied to it.
The guiding I do requires back-up communication devices as well and, while there is an advantage, it also gives false security when going in and out of dead zones. (That said, a friend was leading a trip where he was able to call in a helicopter evac to deal with an unexpected allergic reaction to a bee sting).
In general, the back-ups are OK but the best plan to me is to operate as though you were entirely on your own -- that tends to make the decisions more conservative which leads to fewer incidents.
Having seen a few incidents, I would be reluctant to pass any judgement on the group without full information and familiarity with the area. I certainly feel for everyone involved -- it is tough enough dealing with the incident without the pressure of being in the spotlight at the same time.
don: For those of you here who are kayaking guides here in this forum, or have
: went for guided paddling trips before, what is the expected behaviour of a
: motor craft escort in times of difficulty like this during paddling trips?
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