Thursday, February 23, 2006
Safety Concerns
I participated in the Sea Kayak Georgia symposium this year and while assisting with a BCU 4* assessment I noticed that one of the students was wearing a mesh muti pocket overvest that was worn over his PFD. He had every pocket filled with items presumably to have easy access to without the need to open a hatch cover. The overall weight was substantial and this student seemed to have noticeably more difficulty in both controlling and rentering his boat. It dawned on me that not only did the added weight compromise his buoyancy, but also contributed to his balance. I have since considered the possibility of the mesh catching on something on the deck and concluded that while the idea of the vest seems good at the onset, I am not sure that I would recommend it to people paddling in challenging conditions.
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To me, this is a sign of inexperience and lack of planning. If you are going out for a day, AND you have the right kind of pdf, you don't need all those pockets. My pdf has an emergency strobe strapped on the back, a pocket shaped for my VHF, on the other strap in the back I've got a STOP personal finder; and on the holder patch in front, an upside down river knife. My pockets in the pdf are for the most part empty. I use a deck bag when I'm going long. Otherwise nothing gets in the way of rolling etc. I go out in the Maine open ocean for four or five days at a time, coming in to sleep on MITA ok'd islands only and somehow don't need all the other "necessities" that people seem to think they need. When you do it this way you do it lean or don't do it at all.
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