You’re not alone, Dave. HERE is a current poll of more than 50 canoeists on the question of how often they paddle alone.
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The responses reflect my feelings and experiences very well, so I’ll keep going it alone knowing that I’m not “alone”.
Alone is always good. Especially for max effort, or for just enjoying the solitude.
Some do not understand that there is an enormous gulf between alone and lonely.
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Interesting comment high_desert. To me lonely would be having the pleasure of being truely alone but not being able to share that experience with anyone who would appreciate it.
Anyone can do what they wish when it comes to PFD’s, but the one thing I will impart is how sad it was watch the live helicopter footage of the attempted rescue of a man who had drowned after his canoe capsized in the Trinity River. You could see his PFD tied to the yoke as the canoe re-circulated in an eddy as they were hauling off the body bag. It was a lovely sunny fall day. the man was apparently fishing and didn’t notice the low head dam he had drifted to until it was too late or had tried to run it. Either way he would still be here had he been wearing it.
He might not be. A PFD may have increased his chances for survival, but depending on the nature of the low head dam it is no guarantee.
Nope, it was shallow enough, he hit his head and was knocked out. PFD would have at least rolled him over on his back. There are no guarantees to anything in life. Its all about your choices.
Unless he had a Type 1 PFD which he probably didn’t (most people have type 3) the PFD would not have rolled him over, so if he was face down, unconscious with his PFD on he wouldn’t be here today. He would be here today, if he would have had the situational awareness to avoid the low head dam.
This is a perfect illustration that the PFD isn’t a “magic bullet” it is just another risk mitigation tool and other factors should be considered when assessing and mitigating risk.
It sounds like a case could be made he should have had a helmet on. That of course is not realistic for a guy fishing to be wearing but that would have likely saved his life.
Situation awareness is what really went wrong IMO, Not that wearing a PFD or a helmet couldn’t have helped also. Most people I know that fish are really aware of things like dam locations and such, but they don’t pay attention or get distracted. It is a little like all the distractions we have in cars today half the people driving are only half aware that they are driving.