On 26-Aug-2003, Peter wrote:

You, or someone with you, is incapacitated (i.e. incapable of balancing
and/or bracing for stability) and you're far from shore. Putting sponsons
on the boat with the incapacitated person would allow the other paddler to
tow them to safety.

Good in theory, but in practice, the sponsons don't provide enough stability.
Timmy's sponsons attached to an empty kayak increases the stability about
as much as the same kayak without sponsons but fully loaded with gear.
I wouldn't tow a paddler in an otherwise unsupported, fully loaded kayak.

In rough conditions. the sponsons can increase the likelyhood of a collapse,
since high initial stability on a steep wave means less stability overall.

In calm conditions, sponsons may be fine, but the best thing for a disabled
paddler is a contact tow. You can see them and deal with them more
quickly than with a tow. If there's a third person, use that person to stabilize
the incapacitated paddler and tow the duo. I've done that in a real emergency
and it's not so bad.
..
Without sponsons I'd juryrig a paddle with a pair of
paddle floats to act as outriggers, but I'd expect the result to be harder
to tow and not as secure as properly designed sponsons.

That's a good approach, but I don't think it would be so terrible to tow. Folks
I know who have tried it say it's reasonable to tow. YMMV.

If sponsons were _significantly_ better than competing approaches, I'd support
them. However, they are better in some ways and worse in others. The net is
six of one, half dozen of the other. If you prefer sponsons, that's fine - use
them but make sure you've practiced. They are no more or less likely to save
a life than other approaches.

Mike