Paul Tomblin wrote:
: In a previous article, "Courtney" said:
:The first time you were on moving water could you control your boat
:perfectly or have you never in your paddling history run into anyone?

: As I said earlier, the first time I was on the water, I was given a few
: minutes of instruction on basic canoe control before I was allowed to go
: somewhere where I could be a menace to myself and others. This flotilla
: of doom had both girls and boys in it, and most of them didn't know what
: the hell they were doing. I think it's irresponsible of leaders to set
: kids loose without basic instruction. If that had been my kids (and if I
: hadn't given them instruction already) and I saw them lurching along like
: that, I would have pulled them out of whatever program they were in and
: found another program with competent leadership.

Well... first let me say that I'm a boy scout leader... nether the boy scouts
nor the girl scouts allow youth members of the opposing genders (there are no
boys in girl scouts and there are no girls in boy scouts).

That said... we've done canoe and kayak trips (we built our own kayaks... took
3 months in the church basement for each kid to complete... I had Marge Cline
and a few other instructors come out and do a class in a local lake before
we started using the kayaks we built... but, before we were allowed to do
any of that... myself and another adult went thru Safe Swim and Safety Afloat
training... and three of us huffed thru a lifeguard class (800 yard swim was
tiring), and became CPR certified... Scouts have lots of rules including
requiring training for adults, safety certifications and training for the
scouts.

We did a trip across the State of Illinois... hiking, biking and paddling...
the boys did enough miles to earn hiking (75 miles) and cycling (150 miles)
merit badges... canoeing merit badge doesn't have distance requirments so
they all earned that at summer camp.

Since the youth group wasn't paying attention to you but you saw them, did
you announce yourself or announce that you were passing? Even on bikes or
walking, if someone isn't looking at you and you are passing them, it's
polite to say "Passing on your right" (or left) or just say "On your right"
(or left) so they aren't startled when a object starts to pass... When kids
are goofing around, they are in a world all their own... think back to when
you were a kid... a polite word from the outside world usually gets their
attention back in order...

Here's a pic of our kayaks... cost about $25 per boy... the skin is that
plastic coocooning material they use to winterize sailboats and I got it
for $4 per boat from a local boat shop. Had each kid save 12*1 gallon
milk jugs with lids for flotation.. tied to internal wood frame...

http://www.chicagopaddling.org/lilyak.jpg

--
John Nelson
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