Wet exit legislation?

[Linda]

The unfortunate death of a kayak student four years ago is causing the victim's family to ask for legislation that would rquire instructors to teach and have students practice a wet exit before doing any other on-the-water training. What do you think? This is an article from the Cape Cod Times today:

"Dramatic testimony marks kayak safety hearing"

By DAVID KIBBE

TIMES BOSTON BUREAU

BOSTON - Diane Beauvais sees kayakers from the backyard of her Mattapoisett home almost every summer weekend.

It's hard for her to watch.

On May 26, 2001, her husband, Robert Beauvais, 51, died after his kayak overturned off West Island during a beginners' class.

The instructors of the four-student class had reviewed how to bail out of an overturned kayak in a lesson on dry land. However, because the water was cold, they decided the students should not practice exiting an overturned kayak in the water until the end of the day.

The family later settled out of court with the Buzzards Bay Kayak School.

Yesterday, Beauvais and her daughter, Maggie, 18, came to the Statehouse to call for a new law that would require kayak schools to teach and practice ''wet exits'' before new students head to open water.

''My husband was not being reckless,'' Beauvais told the Legislature's Public Safety Committee. ''He was being very safe. He was thinking he was in good hands, that they would teach him what to do, and it didn't work out, because I believe that there was some major negligence that happened here.''

The legislation, filed by Rep. William Straus, D-Mattapoisett, at the request of the family, would also require kayak instructors to be certified in basic first aid and CPR, and to be certified by the American Canoe Association or an equivalent organization.

''Right now, there really is no requirement, other than someone saying 'I'd like to teach kayaking,' '' Straus said. ''That is far too great a risk.''

Straus said too many schools are tempted to delay wet exit training until the end of a full day on the water. The committee's co-chairman, Sen. Jarrett Barrios, D-Cambridge, said he recently took a two-day course with wet exits at the very end.

''For understandable reasons, they tell people, look, you don't want to start out the course by getting wet, you won't enjoy it,'' Straus said. ''So there's this movement to just say wait to the end to get done the most important safety thing the whole course is about.''

Committee members sounded receptive to the proposal. They will vote on the bill later this session.

The panel is also considering a proposal by Rep. Shirley Gomes, R-Harwich, to require all kayakers wear life jackets and carry a compass and whistle. Gomes filed her bill after the deaths of two young women who were lost off Cape Cod in a heavy fog in 2003.

Kevin Horner, a manager at Charles River Canoe and Kayak, which conducts sea paddling trips all along the Massachusetts coastline, including Buzzards Bay, said most kayak schools would support the concept of the new law, though they might have questions about the details.

His company does wet exit training before new students head to open water, and it requires instructors to know first aid and CPR.

''Most companies, if they are safety conscious, are doing this anyway,'' Horner said in an interview yesterday.

However, Horner said the law should be written with the consultation of paddlers and the industry, and it should offer flexibility where it makes sense. For instance, someone might not be certified by a national organization, but could have paddled and taught for 20 years.

Straus said he had not been notified of any industry opposition.

David Kibbe can be reached at dkottaway@aol.com.

(Published: July 1, 2005)

[bob budd]

Where the Gomes law places a higher standard on kayakers and neglects to do so to other craft this law treats something unique to kayakers.

I don't have a problem with a first aid/CPR requirement, though the state should provide training for same at a reasonable cost and the "training program" should be part of the bill.

The ACA "or similar organization" requirement is unacceptable. While this sort of clause may be meant to improve the credentials of the subject it leads to exception and inclusion of "similar organizations" based upon dubious grounds. This also represents an additional cost to the instructor and if it stays in the bill it should be subsidized or paid by the state as with first aid/CPR.

Initial wet exit execution should be carried out early in the day in a shallow area with assistance at the ready. (Can you say gasp reflex?) Getting wet/cold more or less right away isn't a good reason to avoid this. If a beginner isn't dressed to capsize, which they are likely to do and do so away from the put-in, they shouldn't be taking the class. This will also tend to improve the dress of beginners. There is enough warm flat water around to stage such classes.

[Dee Hall]

Wet exits? If the temperatures are in the low 60s as is common on the seashore at anytime during the summer, with a brisk 7 knot wind, some, if not all, paddlers are going to refuse to do the wet exit. In all of the classes I have taken we were strongly encouraged to do one, but not forced. How can you force the paying customer to do a wet exit? Do you forfeit the $100 and not take them out? I don't see it happening. Perhaps some outfitters will do it, but most won't. Will it make them easier to sue, sure, but it won't bring the loved one back.

Certifications? The only system I see working is a standardized one such as the Maine Registered Guide. To arbitrarily chose one or more such as ACA or whatever is just that, arbitrary (nothing against the ACA or whatever). The legislators don't have the ability to evaluate them.

First aid/CPR? I'm all for it.

[rick stoehrer]

or whatever? it's okay, you can say BCU...no one will gasp in horror.

certification by either of those in the coaching discipliines and then first aid cpr isn't an unreasonable standard.

i agree with dee that REQUIRING folks as paying customers to do a wet exit on a chill day with any wind is going to be a difficult situation. what is an outifitter to do?

the victims widow claiming negligence is a reaction to the circumstances...from what we know about the incident, there was nothing negligent about the actions taken or how that scenario played out.

[Jill]

Below is the text of this legislation and, as it is written, in my view as a lawyer, it could impact clubs such as NSPN. Here is how: It refers to "commercial and/or professional kayak instructors" but it doesn't say they have to be performing commercially or professionally at the time. Therefore, anyone who teaches kayaking for money or conceivably already has a professional cert., such as ACA, BCU, Maine Guide, etc., would probably have to comply in all cases, even if no money is paid for the class. So, the law could apply to any NSPN trip, class or workshop being led by any "commercial and/or professional instructor" even if no money is being paid for the class. There are many in this club who teach or have taught professionally but volunteer their time for the club.

I've had trouble coaxing students to wet exit on warm days with reasonably warm water in a lake, imagine having to do it on a cold day in cold water. Some instructors are opting to have students who haven't wet exited go without spray skirts, something this proposed law doesn't appear to allow. Can you imagine CRCK asking everyone who wants to rent a kayak for a hour (and they don't give them skirts for these rentals) to wet exit in the Charles. Their kayak rental business would suffer. Good thing they rent canoes!

Regardless of how you feel about the substance of what is being proposed, this law is not very well thought thru from a clarity standpoint. Terms which need definition include "commercial" "professional" and "open waters."

Jill

SECTION 1. Chapter 90B of General Laws, as appearing in the 2000 Official Edition is hereby amended by inserting the following new section, after section 13A,

Section 13B. All commercial and/or professional kayak instructors shall obtain and maintain the following:

(a) Basic First Aid training;

( CPR or a higher level of first responder qualification; and

© American Canoe Association certification or equivalent training.

All commercial and/or professional kayak instructors shall provide training to each individual on the safety procedures appropriate to the level of paddling difficulty. Instruction of novices shall include actual wet exit training, the so-called practice in escaping from a kayak while submerged in a controlled water setting, pool or otherwise, before said individuals are allowed to use a kayak in open waters.

No form of release, oral or written, shall be valid or otherwise effective so as to affect an instructor’s responsibility to comply with this section. Any such release shall be null and void.

[bob budd]

"actual wet exit training" doesn't specify getting wet, quite a bit of training and execution can go on while dry.

"Training or no spray skirt" is superior to "It's the law, now get in the water you dweeb". On-the-spot demands for a refund would likely ensue.

[SeanK]

Rick-

This article written in the Sea Kayaker Magazine, Dec 2004 may shed some light to this recent legislation.

http://www.seakayakermag.com/2004/Dec04/Loss01.htm

It truly was an unfortunate event.

-Sean

[Jill]

Another ambiguity but I believe the intention of the drafter is for the word "actual" to apply to "wet exit" rather than "training." Thus,to mean actually getting wet!

[BOB L]

My answer is the same as always, We are grown ups, we take the risks, please keep the goverment out of my life. Laws don't make you any safer they just give you a way to point the finger after some accident happens. No instructor paid or unpaid wants to have a student get hurt.

Bob L