risingsn

P&H Vela (http://www.phseakayaks.com/osb/itemdetails.cfm?ID=9). Brian, This is the boat that my wife paddles, & she is about an inch taller & about 15# heavier than your daughter. Before this boat she had a Mystic & if you wanted it you would have had to pry it from her cold dead hand. That was until she tried the Vela @ The Florida Gulf Coast Symposium about 4 years ago. The Vela is a great boat. It is basically a sports car of a boat, very fast, yet it will turn on a dime. I would defiantly put it on the list of boats to try. Of course the Mystic would be a great choice as well. Enjoy, Chuck

I Jason, A couple of years ago I purchased a new Avocet. I covered the entire deck with 8 mil clear film by 3M. I bought it at stickercity.com & it cost a little over $100. It was worth it. This boat has been through 'the wars' & the deck is like new. Chuck

Hi Tyson, I was at Sea Kayak Georgia last week & they had a sale/close out on Stohlquist dry tops. As I remember they were $350 tops for $50. They are great to deal with, their # is 888 kayakga. Probably would be cheaper that a repair. Thanks, Chuck

...well, that may be, but trees usually have branches & leaves, depending on the season

So here it is. My friend has a sure fire cure for sea sickness...'sit under an oak tree'.

That is a very interesting looking factory install with all of that goope piled on there. I don't have any experience w/ 5200 though I here it is great stuff (you can get small tubes @ Home Depot). In my boat repair kit I carry a 2 part epoxy fiberglass / plastic repair putty. I have found this stuff to be basically bullet proof, it sticks to every thing & dries rock hard. I found it in the glue section @ Home Depot for about $5. Just out of curiosity, who is the manufacturer of the boat? Hope that helps, Chuck

He obviously didn't know what he didn't know...

I'll put my vote in for the Mystic. My wife is 5' 95# & had a Mystic for years. She said that you would have to pry it from her cold, dead hand if you wanted it. That was until she tries a Vela. It is a great boat that he will be able to grow into. You can get it in glass, Kevlar or Carbon/kev. My guess is you could get one for about $1200 depending on the age.

Hi Justin, These are ,IMHO, the two most important things you should bring & most people I know don't have them. Situational awareness & risk assessment skills. On the lighter side, how have you determined camping & landing area. This is a trip I always thought would be great to take, but I was thinking in the opposite direction. Of course going from North to South gives you the advantage of having gravity on your side. Have a great trip, Chuck

I did the same drill in 4* training. The big difference is that the paddler in the boat to be repaired didn't get into the water, but transferred from his boat to my deck. Secondly, the 'damaged boat was right side up. And as an aside, I was paddling an Avocet, the other paddler was 200#+ and his boat was an Assateague @ 60#+, I was looking like the proverbial submarine. All of this just outside of as surf zone.

I have several concerns about this rescue. The victims boat will be very slippery when upside down & no deck lines to hold. When the victim is re-entering his boat his center of gravity is very high, this could be fixed. After the victim was on deck & the rescuer was moving the victims boat perpendicular to pull it up on deck, she was getting no support from that boat. If the victim is to tired to get in the cockpit for a 'T' rescue they could do a 'leg-in' (use the big muscles), a sling or scoop. . Considering that it will only take about a minute to get the victim back in a dry boat using the 'T' rescue, I'm not sure I see what this improves on. Well, theirs my 2 cents ($3.50 w/ the coming inflation)

Ty, As I remember you have a W60, I have one also but have not shot any video. What is the clicking sound I hear every time I watch one of your videos?, Thanks, Chuck

Ok, no secrets here. Mark & Mel are great people & coaches. They can be reached here www.carpediemkayaking.com

In the University of Sea Kayaking's Capsize & Recoveries video they show a lengthy demonstration of the effectiveness of flares, both day & night. Most smaller flares similar to what we might carry in our PFD or on our kayaks are not particularly visible during the day & only a little @ night. Without getting into the really big stuff, IMHO the most effective smaller flares are the 20mm pistol type. They are very impressive.

Just an add on. -Scissors have the ability to cut a slack line that a knife can not. I have a pair of dice scissors that do work w/ gloves...but don't carry it. -I carry a folder like Suz & can open it w/ my neo gloves on, I know they are not all like that. -If a rubber band is holding your knife in its sheath, than as mentioned before a panicked victim could accidentally pull it out during a rescue. -I use a tether. I read a book about ten years ago. It was about someone single handing a 21' sail boat across the Atlantic. One night he hit something & sank. He grabbed his untethered knife to release some emergency equipment from his deck. He dropped it before he was done... -A knife in a pocket to me is basically unacceptable when your upside down. Open the flap & it falls out. Try it with one hand. But I'm just sayin'

Here is another good site for reviews http://www.steves-digicams.com/ . I did a lot of research before purchasing a W60 back in March. It was between the W60 & The Olympus 1030 (?) A few of the deciding factors for me were the zoom (5x vs 3X), the Pentax was slightly smaller and picture quality was better. The http://www.steves-digicams.com/ site found that the Pentax was much better than the Olympus in the picture quality. I did find it interesting when reading review that some people would be very negative about a particular camera, yet most people liked it. After purchasing the Pentax I found a picture, taken w/ the W60, in Outside magazine which was blown up to cover 2 pages. It looked great to me. I have to say that I have seen pictures from the both the Olympus & Pentax and the all look good to me. Now if you want perfect pictures you'll have to pay the big bucks and carry a bulky camera IMHO.

Neil OK, here is my 2 cents ($3.50 w/ the coming inflation) The problem w/ a 'commando' style knife is not so much the losing of it during a rescue. Consider this, you are the rescuer, the victim starts to panic & wants out of the water now! They reach for anything they can grab which turns out to be your knife (they are lucky & grab the release). They are now flailing around with an exposed knife blade in their hand. I know an L4 sea coach that this happened to. I carry a River Rescue folding Knife from Spiderco (& work all of the time to keep it rust free), & it is clipped & tethered to my PFD. I can remove it & open it w/ one hand in a neo glove. The tether is only long enough for me to extend my arm (or wrap around my throat once...hmmm). I consider it a rescue tool, not a toy, & do not use it for anything else (no peanut butter, bagels etc.). It is razor sharp & will cut you if you touch it. Lastly it has a sheep's foot blade not pointed @ the end). So that's why I wouldn't carry a fixed blade knife.

Their is a good float plan on Sea Kayaker Magazines web site (www.seakayakermag.com) under free reasourses.

Well, here is my 2 cents ($3.50 w/ the coming inflation). Please understand, "I prefer clarity over agreement" DP -I have always viewed the CAM system as an attempt at creating a politically correct paddling system. My guess is that it was created by or because of the influence of Lawyers. Basically in the CAM system, no one is responsible, everyone is responsible. -If someone offers to lead a trip & details what that trip will be, then that should be the trip. If that's not the trip you want then you need to organize a trip of your own, or get someone else to do it. -When I'm on a trip, I want to know who is leading so that I can decided if I want to be on that trip with that leader. In the CAM system you could start out on a trip with a competent leader and have someone incompetent becoming the leader later. I know coaches & guides who's trips or classes I would not participant in because they have poor risk assessment skills. They are excellent paddlers. -In any surf training that I have run or participated in we have always paired up & as Suz (I think) said you always stay together. -Referring to the incident that sparked this thread, a few months ago their was a long thread about the use of VHF radios for communication. I think what happened here ends that discussion. In rough condition you may not be able to use you VHF & brace or paddle as needed. We also see the limitations of VHF radios. -I feel that if their were a leader for a group of ten or eleven he would have been able to keep track of the paddlers in the group. He probably would have been acting more as a leader & less as a participant. Its not always fun to be a leader. - I remember months ago someone was lamenting the reduced # of official trips. It would be interesting to here from trip leaders that used to run trips & no longer do, why not? Has their been an increase in SAG trips? To be clear, I was not on this trip (a bit of a drive from FL). My comments are based on what I have read about this incident & the CAM system. I'm sure that Genes fellow paddlers were besides them selves when they realized that they were missing a paddler. It is terrific that Gene is OK, and I very much appreciate his analysis of the mistakes that were made. Lastly, I understand that hind sight is 20/20.

Suz, Thanks for the reply. I am very conciseness about rinsing, though I have the suit on w/ I do it. I'm a stickler about taking care of my kit. Hmmm, based on your comment about food, etc I wonder of a little drink of 303 before a paddle would be a good idea...OK, may be not. Thanks for the help, Chuck

That all makes sense. I would only hope that the 'problem' isn't a 'real' problem