Gosh Tim,

Guess you haven't done much kayaking and canoeing. The hazards of kayaking
and canoeing depend heavily upon the recent rainfall. A Class 2 run, like on
the Main Eel in CA, can quickly become a heavy water Class 4 run overnight
with 20-30 foot standing waves. What happens to small friendly creeks in
hard rains is mindboggling. And not infrequently requires a minor miracle by
a brave companion for rescue.

Sponsons don't even begin to address the problems. A kayak whose sprayskirt
has popped in such circumstances becomes an unmanueverable log, best left to
its own devices by anyone who wants to survive to recover the kayak later -
pushed ashore by a hardworking companion farther downriver. Canoing in big
water is just plain crazy.

Kayaking is believed to be the second-most dangerous sport after vertical
rock climbing. (Only God knows where to rate the crazy snowboarders.) After
10 years of kayaking, 50 weekends (100 days) per year, I was amazed that we
had had no deaths in our groups. I tended to thank the river gods often for
being so forgiving of our reckless behavior.

I'm sure that you have a garage-full of useless sponsons that you would like
to palm off on some naive boaters. Curse you - for you will probably make
them feel safer than they should. Your useless gadget will cause more deaths
than it will prevent.

John Adams


"Tim Ingram" wrote in message
...
Dear Mike:

You are exactly the kind of person who would try to sell rolls and
other deadly ideas to Girl Guides apparently. You would not want them
to have any chance to live.

Is it any wonder US Coast Guard report 071-01: "Canoes and kayaks have
by far the highest fatality rates per million hours of exposure (.42)
as any other boat type". (This figure may be far too low, considering
the death statistics of the Ford/Firestone scandal, over a similar
time frame, with many more vehicles, many, many more use/hours daily,
and only 200 deaths.)

Vast snip!!