SAFETY

Your kayak might be too small when...

CHECK OUT THESE DEATH AND DANGER STORIES

updated April 30, 2008

From my perspective safe is not, despite the dictionary definition,absence of harm. Rather safe is an acceptable level of risk. Safety
equipment, in the hands of someone that knows how to use it can reduce
the level of risk. Good judgment in the person of someone who has
experience, experience usually gained through someone's bad judgment,
can also reduce the risk. Learning and practicing paddling skills
reduces risk. Redundancy like safety equipment, good judgment and good
skills can also reduce the risk. All of these together do not add up to
no risk, nor can the risk be completely eliminated unless one gives up
paddling. However, whatever else one chooses to do will still have
risk.
I'm with those who want safety equipment, good judgment and good skills.
Not only so I am more likely to go on trips with people who come back
alive, but also so that someone might be prepared to save me.

-Dana Dickson Member of the Inland Sea Kayakers.

VIDEO: KayakVideo
Try not to get too close to the wildlife

Some people chase their dreams…
Others just paddle out into the fog
Until something happens.”
KayakQuixotica.com

WHEN NOT TO KAYAK:

When you have not checked the weather.

When you feel under the weather.

When you are impaired mentally, physically or both.

When you are not dressed for conditions.

When you don't have the right gear for conditions.

When you can't handle the conditions.

When the wind is too strong and off shore.

When you have hidden health issues and plan to paddle with a group.

When you can't save yourself if things go wrong.

NEW SECTION: KAYAK ROLLING VIDEO

CKCA members demonstrate their rolls....

Bernie

Clay

Kim

Jim

(Why we practice.)

Student waste deep in water next to overturned kayak: Why do I need airbags in my kayak?
Instructor: Try lifting your kayak to empty out the water!
Student: (grunting and straining) I can’t its too heavy!
Instructor: (smiling deeply) Exactly!

Student: I can’t lift you into your boat!
Instructor: Whaddya gonna do, leave me here to die? Try something else besides lifting.
Student: Like what?

Student: Why do you wear a helmet while kayak surfing?
Instructor: How much do you like your brain just the way it is?
Student: Oh...

Yes, practice makes perfect, but no, 90% of kayakers don’t practice their roll in a way that prepares them for the real world. So, here is where you separate yourself from those poor soles who enter each rapid in fear of their next swim.

Rule Number 1- Never tip over set up for your roll. Always practice by tipping over in some obscure position and then setting up underwater. Why? Because you begin to expect a certain feeling when you tip over set up and that feeling never happens in a combat situation, so you panic, then you lift your head and miss a roll, then you do that again, then you swim, simple as that.

NO SH**!!!!!!

LOOK, NO PADDLE!

Dubside at the East Coast Canoe & Kayak Festival April 2005.

FIRST AID
http://library.thinkquest.org/10624/1staid.html

http://www.paddling.net/guidelines/showArticle.html?117

http://www.uscgboating.org/

Steve hands rolls his kayak in a warm
swimming pool.

The Augusta Aquatic Center at 3157 Damascus Road 706-261-0424
lets local kayakers roll in the recreation pool from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. on Saturdays.
Please call a day ahead to make sure the pool is not booked with a swim meet.

You need:

* a clean boat inside and out
* spray skirt
* paddle
* lifejacket
* a great attitude
The cost is $10 to pay for a lifeguard, so if 5 people show up, they each pay $2 and you can live anywhere in the CSRA to participate.

Safety clinic at J. Strom Thurmond Lake.

A man who is not afraid of sea will soon be drowned, he said,

For he will be going out on a day he shouldn’t.

But we do be afraid of the sea,

And we do only be drowned now and again.

John Millington Synge

“The Aran Islands”

"You have nothing to fear here but hypothermia, drowning and death. After that it’s all downhill."

"It was a good paddle. Nobody died."

"I didn’t think I would need a change of clothes!"

"Cotton kills."

Question: "Were you in the boat when the boat tipped over?

Answer: "No. I wasn't in the boat when the boat tipped over--I was in the water!" anonymous

Click on these links for safety
information:

Cold Water Information

Kayak Re-Entry

Rolling, rolling, rolling