Te Canaille wrote:

John : I tend to agree with a lot that you say. When you wrote :

I hesitate, however, to buy the notion that

student equate instructor competence with the physical appearance of the
boat they're paddling, or whether they're decked out in new high tech
clothing.


I think you're putting words in my mouth that were never there. Competence is either there or not. A certain degree or caring is
only that and it means that some folks care about that others don't. The problem with some of the other posters here is that they
were implying that they would judge an instructor on scratches rather than competence.

YOU are the one who said "a scratched hull is a sign of poor control"!

In one case,

one of the instructers was wearing an old sun faded PFD. Unlike the clean
shaven pretty boy ski instructor image with a french accent,

BTW a faded PFD is a sure sign that it should be replaced. PFD loose floatation over the years and by the time they're faded have
generally lost enough to require a new one.

More nonsense. Depending on the color (some fade faster than others) and
the conditions it's used in (such as clear, tropical, lots of sun) a PFD
can fade badly in a single season. It means nothing other than that the
dye in the fabric has given up the ghost. Padding in a PFD doesn't
degrade that quickly.

It's quite obvious that a shiny image means a lot to you. It makes me
wonder if you carry a mirror and a comb in the pockets of your PFD,
instead of a VHF and flares.