guide-y type and teaching circumstances, i'd carry it all regardless. if it's me and a few mates for the day and we're surfing 50 yards from the put-in/vehicle i'll take a lot of it off/out and leave it in the jeep cause
1) it's less cumbersome....am i going to need a radio when we can all see, swim, walk to put-in?
2) i wouldn't want to have to replace it when the ocean can rip it off/out of the vest!
takes 2 minutes and why carry the gear just to carry the gear? if there is a reasonable expectation that i am going to need it...that there is going to be some circumstance that i can't get around without some "thing" then it makes the cut, otherwise into the bin in the back and it'll get loaded back in when i hit shore.
really, 50 yards off from the put in and most things can be sorted out without having to carry an awful lot with you, don't you think?
pretty different circumstances from having a group of 4 miles away from the put in and being a day away from either end of your journey. then you'd probably best be a little better equipped in regards to kit.
ahh… because when i had my gear in the boat, that was handy an accessible only as long as i was in my boat.
and it’s when you’re out of your boat and your boat with all that handy gear is rocketing away in really big, ugly water that your going to really, really need those things.
Safe- not always I tried to help someone who had so much gear on their vest they could not do an assitted rescue. We had to take the PFD off him to get him back in the boat.
Well… I’ll Have To Admit That you are probably right… As time goes on, I do find my self getting tired with the some of the (“expert” type) posts in the advice forum. It’s beginning to show. Through the years, I have pulled significantly back from participating on the advice forum. I should just be done with this side of PNet. I don’t benefit from it, nor is anybody benefiting from my increasingly overt cynicism.
Wow Im thinking maybe I should just fill mine with lead, that way I would feel a little more part of the group.
Man, I would love to have a count on how many paddlers I’ve pulled out of lakes or seas with LOADS of gear strapped to their PFD or their ‘GUIDES VEST’ and the paddler was completely useless in re - entering his boat, even assisted.
I guess, there’s nothing wrong with carrying gear on you, especsially when you’[ve got so much on you that you’re bound to be pulled away from your boat LMAO, either pulled away or the ‘weight’ of your ‘emergency’ gear takes you straight to the bottom. Or makes you so immobile that upon exiting the boat, the swimmer would not be much more than a big pile of flotsam and jetsam
Not Leaving PNet… just staying away from the gear discussions (which I have mostly been doing anyway). I think we all go through the “gearhead” phase and, after awhile and more paddling, begin to lose a bit of interest in it.
I have noticed that with some of the long time folks who are still around. Just falling into that seemingly natural cycle here…
You contribute to P.net, sing, but,… …like it or not or agree with it or not, you’re likely labeled by some as one of those ‘experts’ and folks with less experience and skills might do what you do without knowing why.
Your perspective, in a lively discussion/disagreement or not, is always worth considering IMO.
Thus the reason to take an inventory… …to see if you are negatively affecting the buoyancy rating of your PFD as I mentioned earlier.
“Knife on lash tab (sinks), strobe on …
Posted by: jmden on Feb-03-08 11:21 PM (EST)
…strap (floats), submersible VHF in radio pocket(sinks)(tethered), PFD mounted tow/throwbag setup (adds buoyancy), 3 Skyblazers (floats), small dye marker (about neutral), small signal mirror (sinks), SeaSeat in back pocket (neutral), SOLAS whistle (floats). Some would say that’s too much, some too little… Make sure to affect the buoyancy rating of your PFD as little as possible. I don’t carry water in my PFD–I think it’s too much added weight and changes your CG upwards which is rarely a good thing, right? At this point, I keep water in a small Platypus on the cockpit floor behind the seat.”
Gearheads without knowledge, skill and lots of hard work practicing in the gear they are planning to wear to see how it all works in a wide variety of conditions are not necessarily going to be ‘safer’–however you want to define that term–than someone that’s not a gearhead. But tell that to the 7 people (kayaks, canoer’s and 1 motorboat) that have died/are still missing in the salt water nearly within spitting distance of my house in the past year. To my knowledge, none of them were found with a VHF on them either, for instance. Is this a significant correlation?
We’re all very fallible in a nearly infinite variety of ways–just be smart and hedge your bets with knowledge, skills, lots of practice and good gear when you may be betting on your life or that of someone else’s.
