Re: Water safety in gener

Posted by Randy Knauff on Jan 21, 2005

Good ideas Karl. I agree for most kayaking situations. I grew up in the desert, no water, no swimming, moved to Alaska, cold water, no swimming. I'm sure what you state is very applicable to most all reading here and boating in general.

Up here, the swimmers die. Those who roll up or hang onto their boats and get back in or climb on and wait or paddle slowly even on overturned kayaks to better conditions/places survive.

Ive taken lessons, practiced, etc but never have become a strong skilled swimmer, but I dress for the water, developed strong paddling and bracing skills, roll and have about ten other rerighting and reentry methods. Most of my students can do numerous rerighting and reentries and spend no more than 20-40 seconds with torso and head in the water.

In our waters, swimming has nothing to do with safe kayaking. Those who try to swim are usually our fatalities.

But when I head south, I still keep working on swimming skills because I agree with your ideas too. One of my main goals is to swim a non-stop mile. One of these days....

Good for you for bringing up safety issues! Randy

In Response to: Water safety in general by Karl on Jan 21, 2005

Replies:

No Replies.