BoatBanter.com - Boy Scouts Endangered by Rescue Scam (Denied Sponsons)

It has been reliably reported that American Boy Scouts continue to
suffer exposure to a rescue scam that resulted in agonizing deaths for
the Darlington School boys and hundreds of other dead American
schoolchildren. This deadly rescue scam, used by the American Canoe
Association, exposes Boy Scouts and other children to the deadly
notion that they can easily empty out a swamped canoe and re-enter in
deep water, without capsizing another canoe. In fact, without sponsons
there is no reliable and foolproof means to escape the water and
certain death by hypothermia, even wearing a PFD.

On Aug 5, 1:50 pm, Chicago Paddling-Fishing wrote:

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TimIngram wrote:

snipto save themselves. Go ahead, test a court with rolling, paddle
floating, canoe over canoe, capistrano flip, paddle a floooded canoe
or kayak to shore. The depth of perfidy of your canoe and kayak death

snip

That's funny, I just came back from a few weeks at scout camp and every week
on what's called 'Wet Wednesday', hundreds of kids tip over their canoe and
do canoe over canoe rescues and climb back in... it's a requirement for
canoeing merit badge... hundreds, perhaps thousands per week did it all
summer long to earn the merit badge at the camp I was at (and I'm sure the
same is true for countless other camps for Boy and Girl Scouts across the
world)...

snip

Also, I've been on a jury and I can get back in a canoe after being flung
into the water (although the last time I did it was at an ACA Canoe instructor
class I took...

These are some of the things the kids do...
e. In deep water, exit the canoe and get back in without capsizing.
f. Capsize the canoe and demonstrate how staying with a capsized canoe
will support both paddlers.
g. Swim, tow, or push a swamped canoe 50 feet to shallow water. In the
shallow water, empty the swamped canoe and reenter it.
h. In deep water, rescue a swamped canoe and its paddlers by emptying the
swamped canoe and helping the paddlers safely reenter their boat
without capsizing.

--
John Nelson
---------------------------------------------------------------------------**--
Chicago Area Paddling/Fishing Page
http://www.chicagopaddling.org http://www.chicagofishing.org
(A Non-Commercial Web Site: No Sponsors, No Paid Ads and Nothing to Sell)

You are disingenuous and deadly to kids. American Canoe Association
Hall of Fame member Cliff Jacobson in the 2005 book "Expedition
Canoeing" states: "The canoe-over-canoe rescue touted by the Red
Cross
and Boy Scouts is generally impossible to perform in a running sea.
Far better to forget about the swamped canoe and gear and put your
efforts into rescuing the paddlers" (p.202.):

Famous Canadian canoeist and film-maker Bill Mason, reversed his
traditional rescue ideas after the dead schoolchildren (12) in the
1978 Lake Temiskaming tragedy, stating that these rescues simply
cannot work, in his last book: "canoe over canoe...I have since
changed my mind..." (Song of the Paddle,1988, p.126). Mr. Mason
advocated extra interior flotation in this book instead, but died
suddenly of stomach cancer just before the first sponson patent
became
known. C.E.S. Franks reached Bill Mason's conclusion just before
Temiskaming, in The Canoe and White Water, University of Toronto
Press, 1977, p.123: "...nearly useless...On a stormy lake where
upsets
are likely to occur, the water is often too rough and choppy." Note:
American Canoe Association Hall of Fame member Cliff Jacobson in the
2005 book "Expedition Canoeing" states: "The canoe-over-canoe rescue
touted by the Red Cross and Boy Scouts is generally impossible to
perform in a running sea. Far better to forget about the swamped
canoe
and gear and put your efforts into rescuing the paddlers" (p.202.)
However, in Deep Waters, James Raffan notes that Jacobson's idea
merely capsized more canoes, killing 12 boys and one leader,
Ontario's
Lake Temiskaming, 1978.
See page 108 of "Deep Waters": "Somewhere in the middle of the lake,
about two miles from shore and too far from the camp to be seen with
the naked eye, the canoe upset. Whether this was from a sudden gust
of
wind on an otherwise calm summer evening, or from a novice paddler
"catching a crab" (a paddle) on the water and shifting position, is
not clear, although there was a tendency for some newspaper writers
(as there would be with Timiskaming fifty years later) to concoct a
violent storm to overturn the canoe. There was likely no storm. In
any
case the big canoe upset. It had no air tanks, sponsons, or flotation
chambers,..."

Dillon published her book in 2008 anyway. Oyen and Dillon are
deliberately wanton and reckless with regard to human life, despite
the above book comment by even their own ACA Hall of Fame member
Cliff
Jacobson!

Please note: with sponsons, more water inside creates more weight and
therefore more stability. See this stability below in "awashed" U.S.
Military kayaks: US Military Special Forces, 10th Airbourne, Fort
Devens, MA, 200 mile ocean kayak race, the coast of Maine, between
Military Kayaking Teams from about 12 NATO countries:
"basic, no nonsense...dramatically increase...safety
and...capabilities... It should be noted that within the North
American civilian sea kayak industry there is some controversy...Sea
Wings' direct competition with...the paddle float...the merits of Sea
Wings...far outweigh those of the paddlefloat...During the IMKP 1994
we used Sea Wings with all our rescue boats as back-up flotation/
stability for awashed kayaks needing assistance pumping out in heavy
seas. In addition, IMKP's rescue kayak was fitted with Sea Wings on a
permanent basis which allowed us to be far more stable in possible
rescue operations...Sea Wings dramatically increase re-entry
operations with capsized boats. Indeed, even with heavily loaded
boats
(those approaching 1000 lbs.) most paddlers can easily re-enter the
kayak. However the most notable advantage of Sea Wings is with
lightly
loaded boats; ie, those kayaks which are far less stable (more tippy)
than fully loaded boats. Recovery operations are far more difficult
in
these boats and most students have extreme difficulty in mastering
the
necessary techniques. This is compounded in heavy seas. Sea Wings
offers an almost guaranteed method of re-entering a lightly loaded
kayak even in heavy seas. Stability increase in heavy seas. Paddling
in extremely heavy seas is difficult. Sea Wings offer the crews an
additional method of dealing with such sea states. One of the most
dangerous situations a detachment can find itself in is that of
towing
a disabled crew with full operational loads in heavy seas at night.
The employment of Sea Wings dramatically increases the safety margin.
In my opinion, this is one of the sponsons' most important
contributions to MAROPS... As an historical footnote it should be
noted that circumpolar kayakers (Greenlanders and Inuit) employed a
similar sponson/ float for stability. It differed significantly
though
from Sea Wings in that it was free floating; i.e., there was
apparently no harness system and stability came from pushing down on
the float on the side of the kayak. In addition, during the late 70's
and early 80's we employed a similar system with our commo boats.
Waterproof bags were blown up and hand held to the sides of the kayak
while communication was conducted. The point here is that the idea of
some sort of support on the sides of the kayak for stability is very
old and universal." Invitational Military Kayak Paddle 1994
Evaluation

Without sponsons no canoe or kayak of any type can be "pumped out",
resulting in instability, re-capsize and death. Escape from certain
death is the main reason for the "life raft platform concept" in the
United States:
USCG Level Flotation Standard 33 CFR 183. Issued April 18, 1977;
Effective August 1, 1978 "Establishes level flotation standards on
rowboats and outboard boats less than 20 feet in length, the boats
most often involved in swamping and capsizing accidents, so that the
boat will float level when swamped and provide a safe platform until
rescue." The US Coast Guard report 071-01 reveals: "Canoes and kayaks
have by far the highest fatality rates per million hours of exposure
(.
42) as any other boat type". In use hours, canoes and kayaks have a
far higher death rate than the deadliest vehicles. "Canoes and kayaks
have the highest fatality rate of all boat types." (Before the
Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation of the U.S.
House of Representatives, May 15, 2001, BOAT/U.S.)

From: http://www.sponsonguy.com/AmericanCa...ionSafety.html

Tim