LETTERS TO THE EDITOR PFDs MIA
I am enjoying the latest great issue very much. I would like to point out, though, that on page 13 of the spring Family Camping, a picture advertising the Outdoor Adventure Show is showing five happy paddlers wearing, well, no lifejackets at all. I know that some purists would say that it is a personal choice
to wear PFDs but when the show is sponsored by none other than Ontario Parks, which now has a program letting you borrow a PFD for free in most parks, some judgment must be exercised. It might sound cold-hearted, but you could have actually inter- viewed Herb Pohl [Canoeroots, V6, I1] about his last trip had he been wearing his PFD when he capsized. Life jackets don’t guar- antee survival but they at least give you a fighting chance. Robin Le Sage Hamilton, Ontario
No doubt the Canada Safety Council would agree with you. Accord- ing to their latest survey, 85 per cent of the boating deaths that oc- curred in Canada in 2000 had one factor in common—the victims were not wearing PFDs. Still, we would stop short of saying that paddling without wearing
a PFD is recklessly irresponsible. Given warm water, a calm day and close proximity to shore, we know some paddlers will choose not to wear PFDs. Though they would be safer to wear them, we aren’t willing to heap moral scorn on them. If the issue is that such revealing photos should not appear in a magazine, even in an advertisement, we respectfully disagree. We often show people swimming without PFDs, without thinking
we are prescribing tragedy. Whitewater is more dangerous than flat- water, but we aren’t about to stop showing photos of people testing themselves in rapids. Paddling at night is riskier than paddling dur- ing the day, but there is no better way to see the stars than from a ca-
noe and we wouldn’t shy away from letting our readers know that. We think there is a distinction to be made between encourag-
ing paddlers not to wear PFDs and revealing that some paddlers sometimes choose not to wear them. That distinction assumes a level of personal responsibility on the part of each reader. As you say, judgment must be exercised. Our magazine surveys the world of the outdoors, a place where judgment must ultimately rest with the readers. —Ed.
And there’s one every issue!
I loved the photos of families biking in the last issue. And what a great idea to host the Whitewater Instructor Conference. You do so much to promote paddling and be- ing outdoors. It was a lucky day for pad- dlers when you decided to start your magazine. I’ve been intending to congratulate
Scott MacGregor on his latest editorials in Family Camping and Canoeroots. I always look forward to reading his editorials. He has an intriguing perspec- tive on things and an articulate and en- tertaining way of expressing it. Wendy Matthews Mount Hope, Ontario
WRITE US: Family Camping welcomes reader comments and letters to the editor. Send correspondence to: Editor, Family Camping, P.O. Box 70, Palmer Rapids, ON K0J 2E0 or email: edi-
tor@familycampingmag.com. Letters chosen for publication are subject to editing for style and length.
4 FAMILY CAMPING
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