NYCkayaker -Safety in HRP

[bonnie13 at earthlink.net]

>BTW, refusing to put out ladders or life rings is absolutely...sputter sputter. 
>
>Didn't some young fellow drown off the Christopher Street Pier a couple of years ago because he dropped a briefcase with some important papers in the water, and in a moment of not-thinking jumped in to retrieve it? 
 in. 
>
>

I did not make that up. http://www.thevillager.com/villager_128/policeblotter.html

Says he was 10 yards out when the current got him. In that case, a ladder probably wouldn't have done him any good, but if somebody could have thrown him a life ring he might still be alive. Actually that seems like a really good argument for a life ring/ladder combo - somebody on shore throws some flotation & that gives even a weak swimmer a much better chance of making it to the next ladder the river takes them too - or if they can't maintain the presence of mind to look for a ladder, it at least buys time for somebody on the water to get to them. 

Yes, jumping in the Hudson to save your poetry may make you a candidate for a Darwin award - but for pete's sake, he made one stupid split-second not-thinking decision, and it was fatal. 

In the face of that, the Trust's anti-safety-precaution arguments seem awfully cheap. 

Thus endeth the rant. 

Bonnie