In article <EC7AC162934C65C1.BEFC04931E9C3404.9E56E77F1CFBD
...@lp.airnews.net>, Anthony Belcher <highh
...@myriad.net> wrote:
>There is a fairly simple concept at work here. If you do an activity
>that has, for example, a 1% chance of death and if thousands of people
>do it hundreds of thousands of times several people will die. You
>death obsessed individuals are wasting everyones time dealing with
>deaths such as these. Spend time only on deaths where the kayaker
>made a clearly correctable mistake and then you will save lives.
I think part of what we see in this news group is different people realizing
at different times that what we are doing for fun really does have a deadly
element to it. I mean really, truly realize it -- even the newest newbie will
generally tell you "paddling can be dangerous," but unfortunately I think it
often takes the death or serious injury of someone close to us for the light
really to go on.
The light goes on for different people at different times, and when it does,
we want it to go on for everyone else, too.
Part of the light going on, I think, is the realization that sometimes deaths
occur in situations in which the paddler has not made "a clearly correctable
mistake." If folks are making decisions based on the belief that they will
only get in trouble if they make clearly correctable mistakes, they can
benefit at least as much from evidence to the contrary as they can from
discussion of things that could have been done differently.
A bit off topic, but I'm even a little suspicious of the notion of the
"clearly correctable mistake." Take this argument to its limit: in an
environment in which one can die even if one does everything right, even
putting on is a "clearly correctable mistake," is it not? Don't like taking
arguments to their limits? Fine. Consider this.
Paddling is a sport in which part of the allure is placing oneself in an
environment in which many decisions with consequences have to be made. What
should I wear today? What river should I paddle and what level is it likely
to be? Am I putting on early enough to complete the run without rushing?
Which boat should I paddle? What equipment should I bring? What is the best
line through the first rapid? Am I good enough to hit this line? If I miss
it, what are my options? Am I comfortable with these options? Should I eddy
out and scout first or just run it? Should I wait until by buddy has eddied
out or should I just follow her down? Opps, I screwed up, should I stay in my
boat and keep trying to roll or should I punch out? Answering these and the
many additional questions we confront every time we put on requires judgement,
skill and unusual self-knowledge.
In a situation in which so many decisions with consequences have to be made,
we are sometimes going to make choices that, in retrospect, look like
mistakes. Usually it won't matter -- the river may be a harsh mistress but
she is usually quite forgiving. But sometimes it does matter. In retrospect
we may say,"hey, there's a mistake she made, she died because of it, so if I
can learn from it I will avoid her fate."
I don't think it is quite this easy. I think that as humans choosing to put
ourselves in an environment in which many decisions with consequences have to
be made we have to recognize that sometimes (perhaps often) we are going to
make decisions that, in retrospect, look like mistakes.
Are these really "clearly correctable mistakes" from which we can make
ourself save through discussion, or are they just an intrinsic part of the
part of the environment we are placing ourselves in the same way a deadly log
hidden in a drop is?
My suspicion is that the number of deaths from "clearly correctable mistakes"
in the sense that most competent paddlers wouldn't have made the same choice
in the same situation are relatively few. I can think of many situations, not
all hypothetical for me, unfortunately, in which it would be difficult if not
impossible to say whether the death or serious injury was the result of an
unambigously "clearly correctable mistake."
Unable to distinguish with confidence the "clearly correctable mistakes," and
believing strongly both in our right to make our own choices and our
responsibility to be fully informed when we make those choices, I think the
discussions of accidents on this newsgroup both healthy and important. Fully
considering such issues is an integral part of being a boater. They are at
least as important as discussions of the relative merits of various boats, the
finer points of technique, hints for avoiding speeding tickets in West
Virginia, and beautiful places to boat and to look after.
-- Chris
