Your sweeping generalisations
are insulting for those of us who enjoy winter paddling and take the sport seriously.
We work hard to develop additional skills, go without other things in order to finance the expensive equipment needed for frigid water paddling, and maintain our equipment fastidiously.
Your reality may involve only fair weather water sports but there are many enthusiasts in northern climes that would never be able to paddle if they subscribed to your narrow minded postulations.
I like the undisturbed waters of winter paddling, the increased wildlife observations, and the dramatic winter light available for great photography. I like the sense of accomplishment and adventure.
I take life very seriously - survived SE Asia, narcotics enforcement, chemo and radiation. Quality of life should not be underestimated. Every day is a good day.
I’ll make ya a deal… you stay out of my reality and I’ll stay out of yours.
Have a day.
Holmes
since you choose to press the issue …
The topic of this thread is how long can one swim in cold water.
If you read the comments it is generally agreed the answer is not far enough.
Sadly, at some point the cold-water paddlers took umbrage that others think they might well be weird, or whatever, and felt the need to defend what they do.
If you're comfortable with what you do why are you wasting your time trying to explain it to others under the guise of self-defense?
Trust me, the world would be a far less entertaining place if people like you didn't delight in racing bulls on the streets of a town in Spain, attempt to ride giant logs downhill in Japan, dive off cliffs in Mexico, bungie jump off of tall buildings, or even kayak over waterfalls.
These are not activities that most "normal" people do, or would even want to do.
Just because others don't share your joy does not mean we need to be attacked for being intolerant, or whatever.
Aren't you risk-takers supposed to revel in your awesome uniqueness, or something?
Claiming false consensus
Many of us would not agree. In a drysuit with fins taken fron a pfd-pack/ditch bag you can swim a long way. The bigger factor is that some of us have developed multiple strong resilient lines of defense so that we will not be in that situation. From what I see you mostly canoe so your perspective on open sea kayaking might not be the most elevated.
I’ll answer the class V thing now. Notice I point no fingers at those who choose to paddle there. I would like to paddle more class 3. I just want to draw the line somewhere and that is where it is (no class 5). I am also getting pretty old and bashes do not heal as fast as they used to. I am from Tennessee with some good friends in the WW community (since 1974), so you can probably estimate what I’ve seen and been affected by.
ABC you have my respect, if you want to know the rest of the story, e-mail with your # and I’ll phone you.
New Kokatat Sea O2 swimable
Although it remains to be seen what the advantages and disadvantages are of the new Kokatat Sea O2 hybrid inflatable pfd are, one advantage is that I find it has more than adequate floatation in its uninflated size to keep me up, and also is
SIGNIFICANTLY easier to swim in. This could, as these posts discuss be a very big assist.
Evan
ibid
Just because others don’t share your joy does not mean we need to be attacked for being intolerant, or whatever.
Aren’t you risk-takers supposed to revel in your awesome uniqueness, or something?
Sounds good!
Thanks for the input on that PFD. I think it’d be a good hot-weather PFD, more likely to actually be worn due to much smaller size (greater breathable area on torso).
To whom were you responding?
I commented because your post appeared to be in response to Peter’s statement that he chooses to leave Class V to braver folks. That’s just a statement of individual choice, not a condemnation. Others on the thread have condemned people who choose to accept risks that they don’t, and I don’t care for that, either. But testerone kills, and I dislike any post of the general form “you’re just saying that because you’re too chicken/not skilled enough to do X yourself.” Even if true, and even if deserved, I strongly believe we should err on the side of not shaming people into paddling when they’d prefer not to.
It’s not unusual to get those conditions
up in BC all year round due to glacier melt. Even if I were a strong swimmer I wouldn’t want try the swim without a PFD. I know my wife wouldn’t since she is prone to have the Gasp Reflex when taking an unexpected swim. Saving a few seconds doesn’t make the added risks of not having a PFD worth it unless you’re doing it for Fear Factor and the $50k.
it turns out …
It turns out that I was mostly responding to a couple of B&B boarders … [sound of head smack to forehead]
I’m thinking when these conversations begin to go “weird” that I should immediately search the B&B archives to see if I’m dealing with a serious person, or just someone sporting for an online argument.
Without eternal vigilence we’re all doomed to drop to their level …
not quite living up to the image
I’m flattered by the complement, peter_k.
But I’m actually not that great of a paddler (yet/or will ever be). I have zero inspiration for class V. I’m not even sure I’ll ever get to be good enough for it either. I much perfer to PLAY in class II/III than pushing to just “do” class IV and V. But I can see why it’s perfectly acceptable for others to do it. And do it safely and have tons of FUN.
Having spend 2 years paddling the same water (but only during calm weather) as the Tsunami Rangers does openned my eyes A LOT. And having the luxury of personal contact with these guys changes the prospective equally. On the public eyes, these are the guys who go out in storms and cheated death by shear juvenile luck. In truth, however, these were extremly skilled kayakers with tons of experience paddling extreme water. Perhaps at the begining 20 years ago, there were a lot of juvenile stupidity involved when they first went out to the rock gardens. But over the years, these guys had learned (and shared with the next geeration paddlers) what the skill need to be and where the safety margin really is. We get to listen to not only the harrowing escape from the jaw of death but also the preparation that made the eventual “escape” possible. Listen to these gius re-count how many times they turned around AT THE LAUNCH (or went paddle elsewhere)!
There’re skill paddlers who work hard to acquire the what it takes (skill, fitness, experience, equipments and what not) to ENJOY rough water. There’re flat water paddlers who enjoy the beauty of being in nature without going through tons of skill clinics or thousands dollar worth of safety equipments. And there’re folks whose only excitement comes from watching the “survivor” show. For the flat water paddler calling the rough water paddlers “testasron junkie” with no regard for their own life or care for their love ones, is just as ignorant as the couch patatos equating a pond paddler with participants of the Survivor show.
pfd or no pfd
For me, yes every time.
If my shoulder blows out (again) swimming isn’t going to be an option…If one of the numerous water lice that frequent every lake and pond in my neighborhood runs into me, if .if…if.
I cycle and I wear a helmet…yeah…even on 60 mile rides in mid july heat…
I figure any help I can get is better than trusting I’ll have the skills when I need em.