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Sea Kayak Trips Bulletin Board
Re: the view looks great
Posted By: lee
Date: Saturday, 2 October 1999, at 10:18 p.m.
George you'll love this one: I worked for a short while in a kayak store that rented plastic sea kayaks and Kiwis, I had never paddled before, i was told to rent only to people that had taken a course or said they knew what they were doing. After a few weeks i started to go paddling on my own, warm S.Calif weather,no pfd,orange seat float and milk bottle bailer. The manager kind of modified the policy to a short 5min introductory course "they're really stable, just paddle straight out, when you come back paddle on the back of the waves" after a few more weeks they took people out to an island on a large power boat with bunches of Kiwis, still no pfd's, orange cushions instead. I became proficient enough to survive little waves and paddling out to oil rigs, still with no self-rescue skills "they're really stable, and if you fall out just climb back on the back deck" The managers were entertaining characters but I knew I wasn't skilled enough to feel safe and responsible for others to accompany them.
I suppose these folks would fit Peters description of greedy wannabes but I got to know them some and greed was not part of their make-up that made them dangerous, lucky maybe, now that I think of it I never saw the person with their name on the business license. Hmmm .
Your right that it is very easy for some people to be led into dangerous situations although for the life of me I couldn't imagine a person witholding the means for a safe exit. My favorite scenario for this one is a group of about 12 paddlers heading out into a cove (pacific ocean,N. Calif) 2ft. waves at the beach. The general plan is that the group would turn into an A/B group as everyone gathered at the entrance to the ocean at the edge of the cove where waves were breaking on rocks, there was an inside passage between cliff and little island like rocks breaking the waves, some caves as well. So the B group develops from those that don't want to venture into the surging passage(50ft and narrowing) and they loiter around the cove and watching the "A" paddlers forge on. Now this is the fun part, nobody gets hurt mind you but check this out, the skilled paddlers head on in poking into and out of caves, the rest of the gang("men,men,men,men, ".....Monty Python chorus singing from the gulls) follow along, I'm hanging back and there they go like lambs to the slaughter, I figure "shouldn't someone at least hang back where they can see if any big waves coming?" But mostly it's a nagging feeling that somethings not riiggghhhht heerrree. I can see 3 guys paddling into a cave,coming out,(jeez,none of these guys even know how to roll) The cave and subsequent passages get narrow enough that you can't turn around in a sea kayak! When everyone comes out, I headed in and had my time among the anenomes. The hilarious/tragic part was that the guys leading were never designated as guides or leaders, the were going where they wanted, the guys following made a decision "yup,i think i can do this" and they could,,,but no one ever articulated these roles, Leader-group-Sweep, but everyone was ok, if a big surge came in a smashed those guy against the wall, it would have been some painful retrospective.
George, isn't it great to have these opportunities to learn? As far as the purpose of a guide, I hope the guide clearly communicates his role and expectations for his clients.
You know the theme song to Gilligans Island would be a good outline for how trip accidents can be analyzed.
I thought the abuse i gave Peter was in kind, but we're ok now, i like chocolate
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