Piggyn wrote on Aug 4^th, 2009 at 3:20am:

solotripper wrote on Jul 30th, 2009 at 11:19pm: It's hard too even know where too lay the blame for so many being un-prepared. I guess you would start with the Outfitter IF they used one, then the trip leader and work down from there. I don't think you could blame an outfitter for that mess.  They shouldn't ever knowingly send out a woefully unprepared group without first trying to convince them of what they really need, but different people have different ideas about what they consider necessities.

Reading this thread makes me think back to my half century of canoe country experience and emergency situations.  I’ve canoed with family, friends, church groups and Boy Scouts.  As a Scout leader you do your best to make sure the group brings all the proper gear on the list.  Of course our Scout groups are generally prepared for the trip in that they at least have experience with water safety, canoeing, monthly Scout camping trips, and we only allow senior Scouts on the adventure.  Incidents to watch out for include twisted ankles, burns from the fire, hot water, and particularly watch out for hot grease; and cuts associated with knives or axes.  We relied on outfitters for the canoes, food and group equipment.  I’ve seen a novice group swamp canoes on the first day in wind and waves.  I’m always the one who reminds everyone in our group that we can always wait out the storm.   My background as a Safety Director I’ve learned that over 90% of accidents are caused by unsafe acts.  Most situations can be addressed though leadership, planning and proper safety rules. Some lessons are easy to see and correct, but some are tough situations.  Proper leadership knows when to get assistance, and of course watch out for advice from people who think they are the know-it-alls.

People say that they learn by experience, but experience is a tough way to learn because you have to take the test first without knowing the answers.  Some people it’s hard for them to ask or pay for advice.  A friend of mine told me that his family went on their first canoe trip with their gear and food in paper grocery bags instead of Duluth packs.  I’d like to hear the stories of what outfitters see and hear from novice canoeists’ experiences.  I’ve had canoeists (on Crooked Lake) paddle over and asked us where they were.  I remember an incident a friend told me that they had a novice group portage though their campsite on the horseshoe-shaped island on Moose Lake.  They had paddled down to the end of the bay and thought they were at the end of the lake.  Lesson: Map reading is an art and it can be difficult to get use to the scale, I always orient the map in the direction that I’m proceeding, mount a compass on my vest, and use points, bays and campsites for reference points.  I’ve once met a group on a portage (in October) and they asked if they could borrow some matches.  Lesson: Be prepared.   I have some friends who were novice college canoeists and got up in the morning preparing breakfast and had a neighboring canoeist from a campsite down the lake towing their canoe back that had blown away in the night.  They asked; “Is this your canoe?”  They didn’t even know that it was missing.  Lesson: be sure to tie your canoe up at night.

Here are some of the emergency situations experienced or heard of from friends.   A friend of mine was on a Quetico trip with Boy Scouts where they had a severe thunderstorm blow down a huge clump of mature, +100’ tall white pines in the middle of the night on their campsite.  The trees crashed though the Scouts tent impaling the middle of a sleeping bag, just missing the Scouts, no one was injured.  Once on a month long canoe trip, a week out from civilization, we had one of our party get a fishhook in the thumb and we performed bite-the-bullet surgery. Had one incident we had an experienced camper cut their hand with and axe on the last day of the trip and we canoed him to the Ely emergency room for stitches.  My brother was on a Scout trip years back where an inexperienced scout on first day out cut his leg with an axe and they evacuated him by canoeing him out navigating the numbered lakes in the dark.  My friend had a canoeist have an epileptic seizure and fell out of their canoe in frigid October water (no life vest).  My wife’s brother died of hypothermia on a winter x-country ski trip.  My uncle died of a heart attack on his annual canoe trip with my cousins.

One rule is when an emergency situation comes along; make sure you don’t compound the situation by doing something (stupid) without thinking through the consequences.  Proper leadership, planning, proper safety rules, first-aid kit, being physically fit, and of course proper outfitting, supplies and equipment and prepare for the worst.  Proper leadership includes planning to know how much you can accomplish in a day, and knowing when you need help from outfitters.  You live and learn, and hopefully you make the right decisions.

starwatcher