....stuff deleted

I bit on the flame bait about bike helmets and probably overstated the
case. I'm still awed by folks that cool off by a quick roll anyway.
I'll stand on the point that learning to paddle is probably cheaper
than the product, and definitely better in the long run.
Since you've tried them, and *I've* only seen them and decided they were
something I didn't need to try, how did they work in a side wave? That
was my big fear - like taking a flat bottomed Grumman canoe out in a
squall. High initial stability, loss of secondary stability.


Marsh,

While you may feel that the bike helmet comment was flame bait, I lived
through that whole evolution from "bike helmets are useless" to "bike
helmets are mandatory" and seen how it works. When I was a kid, nobody,
absolutely nobody, wore helmets. The number of bike deaths/year was about
500 in the US (in a population of about 150 million - I guess that dates me,
eh?). The number of adults who cycled back then was, essentially, zero. The
US population has doubled, the number of cyclists is considerably greater,
and the death rate/cyclist is essentially unchanged. The same people
(children) die each year, not because they do or don't have helmets, but
because no helmet will protect them in a high speed crash with a motor
vehicle.

There is an economic safety infrastructure that has grown over a piece of
equipment that, like the sponson, has limited utility and may actually
induce as many severe injuries as it protects (read evidence on rotational
head injuries induced by the helmet increasing the circumference of the head
and providing greater torque on the neck). This is my concern. I've seen it
happen in one sport that had very light participation (especially amongst
adults), and it could happen in another.

The analogy is a solid one. We've already had a coast guard representative
ask us for comments on sponsons. Tim has also written his self-serving
diatribe, which, much as we like to deny it, will get some media play
(especially as he won't shut up). Someone with more savvy and people skills
could well take the ball and run with it. Unlike PFD's, which actually do
provide some utility, sponsons are essentially useless. Anyone who goes out
in conditions where sponsons might be deployed has already make the critical
judgement error that it was "safe" to go out on the water in those
conditions (probably because they had sponsons). Equpiment is no substitute
for skills and judgement. We all know this, but the media and those who have
economic motives don't want the lawmakers (few of which cycle) to realize
this. It isn't news and it isn't profitable.

Rick