"Michael Daly" wrote in message
e.rogers.com...
On 26-Oct-2003, Mary Malmros wrote:

So why doesn't someone who needs a paddle float -- which is JUST
ANOTHER TOOL -- also have a "more serious problem"?

Getting into a kayak without a stirrup is easy.
Getting in without a stability aid is harder.

Mike, I have to disagree with you here. I don't usually use a stirrup but I
always carry one. One day, while playing victim in a rescue/re-entry class,
I was faced with a rescuer who was unwilling or unable to lean his boat and
put his weight onto my boat to stabalize it while I re-entered. He was fine
with emptying my boat, but as I would try to pull myself over the back deck,
he would let the kayak roll so that the boat was on its side and the
cockpit was under water again. After three attempts, I realized this paddler
would not be able to do a regular "T" assisted rescue.

I asked for his sling and had him put it around his combing and over my
boat. This made his boat, take my weight and I just stepped up into my
cockpit. If this had been a real life situation and not a class, I would
probably still be in the water while waiting for him to learn rescue skills.

There are also some people who have negative buoyancy in their legs and they
just can't keep them on the surface. You don't have to use a stirrup by
wrapping it around a paddle that is placed under the 2 boats--I could never
recommend that method--but there is a use for it just like there is a use
for paddle floats, spare paddles, and every other piece of safety equipment
we carry.


I don't use either. I roll. Kayaking isn't about relying on tools,
it's about skill.

Have you never had a boat sucked off of you in rough surf or large breaking
waves--rolling won't necessarily help, if you have been removed from your
boat by Mother Nature or King Neptune. Also, a very common kayaking injury
is a shoulder dislocation. Suppose you had somebody in the water with a
dislocated shoulder. How would you suggest they pull themselves up onto
their back decks with one hand. Have you practiced this? This would be a
perfect scenario for a stirrup.

Since it is easy to get into a kayak without a stirrup, then
clearly not being able to do that should tell you something
about the paddler in question. It's an obvious cutoff - this
person can't reasonably handle a kayak if they can't do something
that's easy.

I don't buy this assumption at all. Many women don't have the upper body
strength to pull themselves over the deck--but they do have the lower body
strength to step up onto the back deck. Just because something is easy for
you, doesn't necessarily make it easy for someone else. If another method
works for them, so be it. What counts is that you do what works for you.


Steve