Ontario’s Leading Sea Kayak School


Great Lakes Wilderness Trips


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Yoga Sea Kayak Trips Sea Kayak Skills Courses for all levels (905) 399-1216 • info@learntokayak.ca Ad 01.indd 1 1/30/12 7:32 AM


lead to those “unexpected” weather and sea changes are usually hours or miles away when critical decisions are made. Sea kay- aker safety relies more on judgment, risk assessment, weather interpretation and the ability to accurately assess skills, rather than boat handling. Karl Andersson, a BCU coach, assessor


and 5-star paddler, notes that removing equip- ment often increases diligence and safety. “When students show me their trip


plan, I also inspect their kit,” Anderson says. “I then take away some of their kit and ask them if their plan stays the same. The students become nervous. They com- pensate for the missing kit with an im- proved launch list, formal assessment of group skills and crux points for plan re- assessment. In other words, what the plan should have been all along.” And there’s the built-in paradox. Tom


Vanderbilt, who studies risk behavior at New York University, says, “When a situation feels dangerous to you, it’s probably more safe than you know; when a situation feels safe, that is precisely when you should be on guard.” Neil Schulman writes, photographs and


paddles from Portland, Oregon, where run- ning out of coffee is considered an unaccept- able level of risk.


www.adventurekayakmag.com 27


ILLUSTRATION: LORENZO DEL BIANCO


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