so many kayakers refuse to wear PFDs.


http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/ap...0348/1001/NEWS


Last time I went kayaking with a friend who was visiting from the mainland,
I had to trick him into wearing a PFD. I had to tell him that: "here in
Hawaii it is the law that kayakers must wear life preservers." Otherwise he
wasn't going to.

Suds (Popeye's friend) wrote:
so many kayakers refuse to wear PFDs.


http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/ap...0348/1001/NEWS


Last time I went kayaking with a friend who was visiting from the mainland,
I had to trick him into wearing a PFD. I had to tell him that: "here in
Hawaii it is the law that kayakers must wear life preservers." Otherwise he
wasn't going to.

What kind of a "guide" takes people out without PFDs?!?!?!? On the
ocean to boot!!!!

Suds (Popeye's friend) wrote:
so many kayakers refuse to wear PFDs.

Probably for the same reason so many refuse to wear seatbelts:
stupidity. Unfortunately, you can't legislate common sense.

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.

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.

Are we talking about seat belts?

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

Actually some of my play boating buddies DO wear seatbelts in their WW
kayaks. Quick release dive belt kind of plastic buckle. Not me though. :-)
"Jeremy" wrote in message
...
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.

Are we talking about seat belts?

Indeed, why would one want to exit a rolled kayak? Roll it back up!
"Galen Hekhuis" wrote in message
news
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

For whatever it's worth...

I spent years as a member of a Dive / Rescue team in an inland recreational
waterways enviroment.

We never recovered a drowning victim who'd been wearing flotation.

We used to say that we'd never recovered a body that wouldn't have been
alive if s/he'd been wearing a PFD, but then a carload of kids drive into a
partially frozen river. I don't think even PFDs would have helped them.

We were all strong swimmers. We could tread water for long periods with our
legs tied together or with our arms out of the water. Yet NO member of our
Team ever went near the water without flotation of some kind. NO
exceptions. Often we'd judge the probable area of submergence and the drift
of the current by looking where we'd found the mandatory life jackets.
Floating on the surface. After the accident, when it was too late except to
tell us where to put the first diver into his search pattern.

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