Obvious safety violation: Say something or keep quiet?

[JCH_Ski]

A couple of years ago I was out with my local canoe/kayak club on our usual Sunday run -- a Class I-II section of the Potomac known as the GW canal. You don't have to be a club member to paddle with us and it isn't unusual for new faces to show up. Sometimes they enjoy themselves and join the club. Sometimes not. But the new ones almost always take the friendly safety advice. PFDs for everyone is rule one.

On this particular Sunday, a kayaker showed up in a rec boat (no skirt). Nobody knew her but she claimed to be an experienced kayaker. She had a PFD that she was semi wearing -- she had her arms through it, but it was the kind with a central zipper down the front and it wasn't zipped and the entire thing was kind of loosely draped over her.

As we sat in an eddy before going into the first rapid, I casually brought my canoe up next to her and quietly suggested that she zip up the PFD because it was likely to come off if she capsized. She looked at me and said, "Well, I never, ever bother to zip it and I've never had a problem."

You can guess what happened next. Less than five minutes later, she hit a submerged branch, flipped her kayak, and did a wet exit. As she broke the surface, the PFD came up over her head, and almost totally off of her. She couldn't use her arms to swim so she pulled them out the rest of the way and the PFD floated away. Fortunately, it was close to shore and I and the other the club members towed her and her boat safely to shore and tracked down the PFD and assorted flotsam and jetsum that had come out of her boat's cockpit (except her camera which sank and was never found).

Instant karma like that rarely happens, but it did this day.

Oh, when we got back to the parking lot, she had a flat tire. And her spare was flat, too We called her a tow truck. She has never been back out with the club and we're all perfectly ok about that.

And she probably wonders why everything happens her, or at least why she had such a terrible day.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

PFDs for everyone is rule one.

A whitewater trip leader should make it clear before the trip starts that everyone must wear a PFD that is fully zipped and secured, or the person simply is not allowed on the trip. Period.

I've never encountered any difficulty with this rule on any organized or bootleg whitewater trip in my life.

I do recall one instance on a Bay of Fundy sea kayaking trip around Campobello Island, New Brunswick—sea kayaking in cold ocean being even more dangerous for non- or weak-rolling paddlers than most whitewater. One of the persons was similarly wearing a PFD but for some unfathomable reason didn't want to zip it up. Not only the trip leader, but the entire group, encircled the guy and made it forcefully clear that he was off the trip on the water if he didn't immediately zip up, that he would not be shuttled back to his vehicle, and that he would not be part of the group back in base camp. It was explained that the group would not incrementally endanger itself with preventable rescues or unnecessary emergencies just because one individual wanted to be cavalier about basic risks. The fellow sensed not only the gravity of the group's position, but also the incipient anger, and he immediately complied. The trip turned out well; we came upon a minky whale after curving around the Head Harbor Lightstation, sometimes claimed to be the most photographed lighthouse in the world.

 

[Seeker]

I've learned (after almost 60 years, and still not always) to keep my mouth shut. No one wants un-asked-for advice. And people these days are liable to get mad faster. Maybe that comes from almost 6 years now, of living near Baltimore. Spoke to a Ranger once, about 'the public', during what she called "Angry August"... said everyone is on edge then, trying to maximize their fun.

In the woods, I pretty much stick to myself, but will talk when close to someone in passing, or when I'm camping in their immediate vicinity; seems just right to introduce yourself... but no advice.

 

[Alien Legs]

I will not bother unless there is immediate danger to the child. I'd rather not get stabbed by some crazy father.

 

[yknpdlr]

I have been on the instructor staff for the BSA National Camping School's high adventure trek leader guide training program for 30 years. The class certifies as trusted trek guides, typically college age students who would like to have a job at an Adirondack BSA resident summer camp leading canoe/backpacking five-day treks into the wild. Of course it is a BSA mandate that everyone on the water shall wear a fully functional PFD at all times. I go in my solo canoe so that while on the water I can easily zip from canoe to canoe to observe and instruct paddling techniques. One of my favorite first "tests" of the leadership class is to observe all of my group of student's launch procedures, then I will launch last in my solo canoe without wearing my PFD and join them out on the open lake. I expect the student who is then the designated "leader of the day" (LOD) to call me out for not being BSA safe, sooner (hopefuly) or later. Sometimes it takes some arguing on my part, with all of the "I am the adult scoutmaster" excuses of why I don't need to wear a PFD on that warm day even though everyone else does. But eventually, informed gentle reason will win out, and we proceed on our way with all kinds of other scenario role playing tests awaiting for them to safely guide through.

Another scenario is, after several role plays of troublesome "Bobby" unskiled uncooperative young scout for several frustrating days on trek, he has had enough of rule making by "Mr. Finkelstein" picking on him. Returning from a hot mountain hike, Bobby decides he will paddle home alone in one of the C2 Grumman canoes left on the beach. But he is a terrible solo paddler, he fairly soon capsizes, without a PFD, of course. The LOD then takes a partner, with PFDs (and hopefully also a spare), to go rescue Bobby. But Bobby is uncooperative and threatens to capsize the rescue canoe before succumbing to fatigue and reason to return to the beach for a class debrief on what has transpired. I have had returning students tell me after a season of guiding that "Bobby" in fact does exist.

In another story, my daughter became a trek guide, and the next year season she went through waterfront director's school. When she arrived at her summer camp waterfront, she could not believe the terrible condition of many of the PFDs in stock. From her training, she then took a box cutter and ripped them in half. Now the camp had to purchase new serviceable PFDs before scouts arrived for the summer, a very good idea.

 

[Robin]

I watched a tandem canoe paddle far off shore in a large ADK lake days after ice out. There was a slight chop, nothing serious. I wondered if they knew how dangerous and unnecessary that was as I sat in my chair smoking a big fat cigar.
They made a bee line for my campsite and we talked for a few minutes, they knew me from my YouTube’s…haha, go figure.
I didn’t say a word about their paddling far off shore in ice cold water, not my place to lecture others in the back country.

 

[Woodpuppy]

I don’t like adults endangering kids, I’d probably just call the rangers aka FWC. “Dad” needs a reality check.

 

[yknpdlr]

I don’t like adults endangering kids, I’d probably just call the rangers aka FWC. “Dad” needs a reality check.

Assuming communication is available, that idea is not much different than witnessing a drunk swerve all over a highway. Call someione in charge, dont make matters worse for yourself. if It was me, I would monitor the canoe's activity as far as I could and prepare for a possible rescue.

 

[ppine]

Mostly I only give advice to people I know and know pretty well.
I went on a few trips with a guy that had trouble with simple things like securing his canoes to a roof rack or how to pack equipment in a boat. He never wanted to hear opinions about how to solve his simple problems. He was always lax about lifejackets. On one trip, he was fishing some of the time for salmon and wearing hip waders. He "forget" to put on his lifejacket a couple of times. Sometimes it was not zipped up. The water was fast and cold. I finally just gave up on him and never paddled with him again.