Editorial: SAFETY SCENARIOS

April-May 2006

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.
To download a pdf copy of the magazine click here: > DOWNLOAD

by Alan Wilson

You arrive at the put-in, unload your boat and carry it down to the beach. As you’re rooting around in your back hatch for your gear, you discover you’ve left your sprayskirt at home. You sure don’t feel like driving all the way back to get it, and anyway, the water looks reasonably calm. So you launch, skirt-less. Everything is fine for awhile and you’re enjoying the exercise and salt air, but as you paddle beyond the cove, you find yourself in a bit of breeze, the water roughens around you, and you soon get a lap full of water from one of the waves. You start watching each wave, paddling with caution, realizing that you could be swamped. You want to turn around, but that will mean being broadside to the breaking waves.

* * *

You notice a band of white on the horizon and hear a distant foghorn, but think little of it. The sky is blue overhead, the sun is shining strongly and you’re enjoying the exploration of a series of little islets and the inner, lagoon-like passages among them. You take your time and when you finally round the last islet in the chain, you can see wisps of fog passing between you and the mainland shore about two miles back, across the shipping channel. You start the crossing but soon notice that the fog is forming around you faster than you expected. Before long you’re into the soup with at least a mile to go. Are you paddling straight, or veering off course? If only you had your compass. The sound of the foghorn seems to be shifting. And is that an engine you hear in the distance?

* * *

You’re helping your group launch their kayaks. The head guide is back at the van, still unloading the last of the cooking gear. You’ve managed to get the first couple of novices on the water and you’re now helping a third. As you explain the pedal adjustments to this somewhat nervous novice, you glance out and see that one of the others, an impatient young guy, is paddling away from you in a wobbling sort of way to see how fast he can go. You suddenly doubt the wisdom of putting him in that narrow single and wonder whether or not you could reach him in time if he were to capsize. The group hasn’t had wet exit practice yet and you’re not entirely sure he was listening attentively when you explained it earlier.

* * *

Scenarios like these, or your own stories, are good starting points for discussion. Where did things begin to go wrong? What could have happened? What can we do better next time? Debriefing our experiences with our paddling partners is a great way to learn. Hopefully the material in this issue will provide good food for thought.

Happy and safe paddling!