On Wed, 07 Dec 2005 18:30:07 -0500, Galen Hekhuis wrote:

On 7 Dec 2005 15:17:35 -0800, wrote:

I am not a kayaker but I wonder if perhaps they might make it harder to
exit a rolled kayak. Being a sailor, I always wear one.

I am a kayaker, and a sailor to boot (lived aboard and owned yawls and
sloops) and I a gimp too, and I can tell you from experience that a PFD
doesn't make it at all harder for me to exit a rolled kayak if necessary,
neither does it make it at all harder to roll one the full 360 degrees.

Galen Hekhuis NpD, JFR, GWA
Alone we can just aspire to be dumb, but together we can be truly stupid

It is a sad thing when people, full of enough life to determine to go
on a paddling adventure in order to enjoy the beauty of the world
around us, make a bad decision, and someone ends up dead. The others
has to live the rest of their lives with the troubling memory, and the
Guide will forever question his decisions which may put him out of a
job, and facing serious legal consequences. This we can be assured of,
this situation has many mitigating circumstances, but terribly sad
none the less.

Not to disparage the dead, but consider this, two people together, a
49 year old guy with all his attributes, and a 26 year old gal with
all her uh "attributes", makes for a pretty stupid stew. Considering
that he was married, the disparity of age, probable difference in
rank, a long way from home, I expect they may have had other things on
their minds. When the mind process is divided, the thinking gets
muddled and stupid decisions follow. The guide may have recommended
that they use the PFD, but was he in any position to make them put
them on, or even hear his recommedation.

I know a 49 year old that was in a similar situation, and made similar
bad decisions. Luckily, I lived to write this passage, but I realize
in hind sight just how stupid, and lucky I was! RkyMtnHootOwl OvO