Wednesday, April 25, 2012

We need a maxim or something

A long time member of the club I'm in announced a trip that sounded like a lot of fun. So I went. We were supposed to meet at such and so time but the place is kind of far away and, as can happen, the organizer was a little late.

Now amongst the waiting participants was one of the most aggressive paddlers that I've met. Very type A personality, gung-ho sort of guy. Like he pulled his 16ish foot plastic boat off his car by himself ("naw, I got it, thanks"), threw it on his shoulder and ran (seriously, he ran) thirty plus yards across the sandy, sandy beach and, gently, deposited his boat at the ready. Gung-ho indeed.

So we are all on the beach organized to go, chatting kayaking chat and waiting for the organizer to catch up, he having arrived a little late as mentioned. Type A guy declares that he's going to head out, by himself mind, but he won't go around the point. It's not at all clear to me which point we're talking about but it doesn't really matter, something I tried to convey in the tone of my "Really?". You know that you-sound-serious-but-I'm-having-a-hard-time-believing-it tone. Not surprisingly  this elicits a "yah" response with not entirely subtle undertones of well-duh  (type A you'll recall) . As a last resort and with little hope I break out an "ok" smothered in this-is-not-a-good-idea. Unfazed, Type A picks up his boat and heads to the water. Sigh.

A few minutes later the trip organizer joins us and we start in on the safety talk.The beach we're on is notoriously dumpy. On this day it's really small, but perfect for a speed launch, which Type A undertakes. The salient point of a speed launch, at least for this story, is that you get your boat into the water and cowboy in as opposed to knuckling down the beach. Type A jumps on the back of his boat in a buncha feet of water, is clearly not centered and, after a brief struggle with gravity, falls in. Happens to all of us. I turn around to pay attention to the signals portion of the safety talk.

I was surprised when I glanced back out to see Type A, still in the water, pushing the bow up to empty his cockpit. The water is cold, dry suit or not, and this would not have been my choice. But, despite it all, there's no doubt Type A is a strong and experienced paddler so, like, whatever. You know? Back to the talk...destination...communication...together...

Hey, Type A, is still in the water. That was unexpected. I figured for sure...hey, he's actually swimming after his boat. His upright in 5ish knot winds boat. Umm, the boat is looking to be the easy winner of this race...oh he stopped swimming and he's on his back. Damn. I've seen this before. In a class, as a staged scenario, but still I grok this is a real situation. Neat!

I say neat because, well, it was and because I figure there's about 10 minutes before Type A is going to be even near anything like trouble. He's being blown towards-ish shore, he's dressed for immersion, he's perhaps 200 yards away, and despite admitted limitations in various other paddling skills, incident management like this is something I've done a lot of training in. Which is to say, quoting Spicoli, I can fix it. Probably needlessly I announce to the group that "he's in trouble" and grab my boat and head down to the small break intending to paddle out and, well, fix it.

In the event I didn't really have to do much. Turns out that a whole bunch of California State rescue employees of some sort were there for training or something and, while I was waiting for an opening, a Zodiac type boat comes from across the bay to help out Type A. Meanwhile one of the rescue employees, a kid, no more than 25, comes jogging over, all blonde hair and, no shit, blue eyes and asks, "do you have a leader?". This kid things we're fools and incompetents. A fair judgement given what he's seen, but I'm embarrassed and manage only a short "what?" before I see my chance and get on the water, leaving the rest of the group to deal with this kids well intentioned questions.

Type A of course was fine. The rescue guys helped him get back in his boat, he pumped it out, etc. Fine. I was a little embarrassed in front of the professionals and the conclusions I can imagine they came to. But mostly I was shaking my head. I mean, and I am not at all a fan of hyperbolic what could have happeneds, the whole thing could've put a serious crimp in my day. Just to get on the water maybe 10 minutes earlier. Which got me to thinking.

There was this really successful and famous (if you're a college sports fan) coach named John Wooden and he had a bunch of maxims. Like "be quick, but don't hurry". Catchy (says I) and actionable sayings. I think we need a catchy maxim or two when it comes to safety stuff. Like, "saving 10 minutes could cost you a lot or otherwise put a crimp in someone else's day which is terrible if they don't get out to paddle enough". You know. Catchy.

Friday, April 6, 2012

Maintenance

Cleaned my boat the other day. Washed and waxed.

I like cleaning my boat. It's just so....certain.