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Long Video With More Than One Lesson

This could be the Mt Everest of poor judgement and bad decision-making in a kayak.

Good production values and well-narrated though.

This makes a good bookend to that rock garden rescue video: what to do/what not to do
 
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I have this baseball bat. . . it's fun . . . I sit on my face-shield and I hit myself right in the face with that bat . . . and then I do it again and again and again and again . . . and keep wondering if anything will happen.
 
I am glad they posted it. Good resource for newer paddlers.

I hope they don't get too flamed with comments about what they should have done different. They sure don't know what they don't know.
 
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I am sure they learned important lessons on that trip. You can definitely hear the panic growing in their voices.
My favourite part was hearing about the other paddlers all coming together to help fix up their rudder and warm them up. Good people.

It is unfortunate that people can often get by for a long time without issue and build up a sense of complacency. Then when something goes wrong it's a really big deal for them. One of the great things about courses (or paddling with some more experienced folk) is that you can learn the importance of pieces of gear or of experience with specific skills from people who can qualify it. As he mentioned in the video, he thought spray skirt was for keeping rain out, and not for keeping spray out.

It also illustrates why a tandem with a sealed middle compartment is so good. It would have been a real doozy in something without that extra buoyancy.
 
This is his reply on FB to a comment on his post with the video:
"because I'm a filmmaker not a kayaker. If this situation can gain me exposure as a filmmaker at the expense of my reputation as a kayaker I'd take that opportunity 10 times in a row. I don't care what other kayakers think about me, I only care about telling compelling stories."
 
Because I wouldn't want people to not report on their mistakes becasue they don't want to be flamed. Those of us open to learning will learn more from these self-reports than we do from the ones where the person dies and all we have is the half-baked news reports written by non-paddlers.
 
I give them a pass on their decisions (mostly) because of the effort it took to make the video - which is a great eye opener for those who are complacent about safety.
 
I agree that people should be encouraged to discuss their mishaps openly, so everybody can learn from them. We need the paddling equivalent of 'Accidents in North American Mountaineering' or at least a replacement for the incident reports (Broze/Gronseth) in Sea Kayaker magazine.

That film-maker's list of 'bad decisions' was very short.
If his intention was mostly educational - which he doesn't claim - he would have thought a bit more about issues of competence (not being able to turn the kayak, etc etc) and preparation. Unless people 'flame' him in the comments of his video, other 'beginners' will think it was just a case of bad luck with the weather, and not putting on the sprayskirt.
Any bets on whether that kayak had adequate hatch covers? I've seen quite a few boats that were missing the neoprene covers under the 'lid'.
And what about those 'dry bags'?
I've never seen sprayskirts described as devices for keeping rain out of the cockpit. I wonder where he got that idea?
I'm quite sure that no instructor would have allowed two paddlers in a tandem equipped with only one skirt and that skirt not being used.

BTW, that episode also points out that most tandems have less buoyancy (and storage volume) per paddler than the average solo boat.
Another example of 'safety in numbers' falling short. Occasionally I see tandems with two capable paddlers, but usually they are used to allow an unskilled or unfit person to get out on the water.

"Darwin Award competitors' ambition thwarted; will try another activity."

I've restrained myself from referring to the 'oh, whatever' generational issue. Reason: Yesterday at the take-out I met a very affable, younger - though still, like me, a 'retired senior citizen' - man. He's a sailor and kayaker, and we chatted about my new boat and the new kayak his novice paddler wife had ordered. When I asked about whether taking instruction was part of the plan, he said they were quite busy and anyway, he alsways made sure to plan their outings so the conditions were mild and 'nothing could happen'.
 
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I hope they don't get too flamed with comments about what they should have done different.

“Hi, I’m speaking as a certified kayaking guide instructor trainer and volunteer search and rescue team leader coordinator rescue director leader. I’ve compiled a list of observations and opinions, which I know you’ll be grateful I share. There will be be a lot of capital letters and superfluous punctuation marks in what follows, but I NEED you and EVERYONE else to LISTEN to me, end of story!!!”

Alex
 
“Hi, I’m speaking as a certified kayaking guide instructor trainer and volunteer search and rescue team leader coordinator rescue director leader. I’ve compiled a list of observations and opinions, which I know you’ll be grateful I share. There will be be a lot of capital letters and superfluous punctuation marks in what follows, but I NEED you and EVERYONE else to LISTEN to me, end of story!!!”

Alex
Like dude - you are so negative!! CHILL!
:)
 
The comments under the video are actually quite restrained, and kind.

From the video comments, a sample of responses from Mr. "I'd rather Be Hiking', the video producer:

The physical trauma was in the kayak, the spiritual trauma is from all the arrogant kayak teachers mostly in the comments sections on facebook.

Reading the comments of the arrogant kayakers in facebook groups is almost as worse as this.

Did you watch or just load up the video and 10 seconds later started running your mouth in the comments section? I clearly stated everything we did wrong in the video. What's your point here to cause more trauma to someone with trauma? Well done you can pass that along to your students too hero.


'I'd Rather Be Hiking' had a very short list of mistakes in the video . Obviously, he still doesn't know what he doesn't know, as @Peter-CKM pointed out.

Notice the quick use of the trauma/survivor/victim card - welcome to 2021.
 
Maybe he deleted the hurtful comments.
That's certainly a possibility. Somebody mentioned having a comment 'declined'. I didn't know that was a choice at Facebook.

Fake reviews on online shopping sites, edited comments on Facebook...Soon we won't be able to trust the internet completely!! :)
 
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