A little while ago a trip report came through a mailing list I read. Paraphrasing, it contained this passage:
"One of us returned early having landed midway with shoulder problems. (I hope he got back to his car safely !!)"
I cringed when I read this. Was a paddler with a dodgy shoulder allowed to paddle back by himself? Could no provisions to assure he actually got back to his car be made? A phone call? Radio? In risk assessment land (you do do risk assessments, right?) this guy getting on the water by himself would certainly be a giant clump of yellow. Perhaps red. Now, to be fair, for all I know the injured-shoulder-guy never got back on the water. The place he was paddling is a major metropolitan area and, supposing it was not his throwing arm shoulder, from where they landed him a reasonably well thrown rock in any direction could probably have hit any one of a few thousand people or so. One of them might have given him a ride. Or perhaps his shoulder was absolutely, certainly not really that bad and he could make the couple of mile paddle back on his own with no chance of mishap. Or he caught a cab. I don't know for sure. But the circumstance does raise a question I think.
If we're in a shared experience circumstance, do we have any responsibility to our fellows in such a case as this? Suppose, for the sake of argument, the guy was going to paddle back. Is it ok to just let him go? Do we accept his assurances of capability-despite-disability, his you-go-aheads, I'll-be-fines and continue on our merry way? Or do we recognize them for what they could be; demands of social normalcy, ego maintenance, general being-stubbornisms? Do we therefore actively ensure, as far as we're able, the well being of our fellow?
I am a sucker for good animated movies. I think that The Incredibles is one of the finest movies ever made (no, really, I do). I also get quite a kick out of Lilo and Stitch. I won't spoil it for you, but it's set in Hawaii and it's about a girl, Lilo, who adopts an alien (like from space), Stitch, and hijinks ensue. It's pretty good. And, much like Lilo and Stitch, for the duration of paddles that I'm involved with, I try to ensure that I keep to the principle of Ohana. That is, nobody get's left behind.
If someone is not able to continue a paddle, for most any reason much beyond "I don't feel like it", I go back with them, make sure they are on shore and safe and usually, but not always, head back out. In the event this has proven to be entirely a pain in the ass. I don't get out as much as I want to to begin with and now I have to escort someone back because they didn't self assess well enough? Or move at glacial speeds because they didn't know they didn't have the stamina to keep up for the duration? I've actively avoided paddling with some people because I've more than once had to deal with some significant (to me) inconvenience because of them. And because of this Ohana stuff.
But, despite it all, I think Ohana is the right thing to do. I simply can't, for myself, discern any justification for not accepting a responsibility to ensure, as best as I can, that everyone I leave shore with returns safely. If we're sharing an experience well, then, we're sharing an experience. All of it. Even the awful ass parts like you have to head back early because you suck (heh). It's just not enough, I think, to say "It will be fine". I think you have to know that it's fine. For everyone. And, to be entirely clear, "returns safely" does not mean standing on shore back at the put in. It means returns to ones life in pretty much the same state you were in before you embarked on this little jaunt excepting any awesome you accrued doing cool stuff on the water.
Fun for me. Fun for you. Fun for us. Seems fair.
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