Quote:
Originally Posted by hazelnut
Ok you can get off your high horse now. I think you missed the point. And another thing, everyone is acting like they were kayaking in the damn "Perfect Storm!!!". Get a grip I've seen bigger waves and stronger winds on a clear day in July. So tell me just how much "danger" the rescuers were in. 
My original point stands. Get out the judgmental hats folks cuz we're all perfect. Oh and don't forget the bubble wrap.
I will add that this is not something I would do. I actually elected to stay off the island and we stayed home. My decision as I was worried that if something happened during then storm and we needed help It wouldn't have come very quickly. Also, I didn't feel that putting my family on a boat if we needed to go get help ourselves wouldn't be a wise decision.
My original post was aimed at all of the people that chime in and judge what others do based on little to no information. People also are quick to judge based on their own personal feelings of what is dangerous or not. We as a society have evolved to become smarter and more educated about safety. We have also begun to turn into nanny's and wuss'. My god it is sad.
Finally- it was not a hurricane. And by the time it got to the lake it was barely a tropical storm. |
I'm sorry you're being attacked like this. Yet I thought that there were some amazing insights that followed. You engaged people, got a conversation going. And that's a good thing.
I've got friends who go into surf that virtually nobody would go into. Even they know they're pushing their limits. Got friends who attack rock faces - technical climbing - that they know is pushing their limits. Others that go on whitewater that pushes their limits. I could go on and on about these enthusiasts. People ask: "Are these the stupidest or most courageous people in the world?" It depends on their awareness which I'll get to in a minute.
Plenty of these folks end up getting caught at one time or another in distress. Normally they're extremely humbled by what's happened. Some quit on it. Others lace up and go back and try it again. Some end up dead, but most of us take comfort in the fact that they went out the way they should have. I'm sure some could intellectualize about this sense of comfort and argue about it. I won't.
As for jumping off bridges, and the comment made earlier, bridge jumping off elevations higher than the Golden Gate is risky, but there are folks who love it. The people who jumped off the Golden Gate weren't stupid, they were horribly depressed. They wanted to die. I'm not sure that was the kayakers' goal. My guess is they didn't believe the day would end up in a distress call, nor were they so unthoughtful as to think, "well if we end up in a distress situation, we can count on a rescue team to get us out of it."
To your point that getting behind the wheel of a powerful vehicle, drunk, is stupid - and illegal - you're spot on. Were the kayakers over the legal limit?
If you really want to see someone putting themselves in harms way - completely or almost completely unaware - look no further than the next time they strap into a seat belt. Or maybe deep in the back of their minds they know better, but are they really aware (of what they're doing to their heart) when they blow their diet and add another pound to an already overweight body (Here I'm making a general reference to the 66% of Americans who qualify as overweight or obese). What's the level of awareness associated with each time someone smokes another cigarette?
I'm not against people testing their limits, and if in retrospect they were in way over their head, I generally find that almost all of them didn't intentionally put themself in that position. They weren't looking to die.
The point is, where some see stupidity, some see an opportunity to test themselves. Sometimes they misjudge the risks. But they had some level of awareness; they did try to judge the situation. My guess is the kayakers did too. Someone brought up the question as to how much information did someone have who went off on these kayakers. If that someone wasn't fully informed, even if they applied thought and reason, they're bordering on pre-judgement.
The thing is, I really do believe we all pre-judge every day. Being fully informed is tough. What I liked about your comment was that, even in the absence of complete information, it created a discussion filled with people's thought and reason.
Personally I see a guy on a 64' swell and wish I could do that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPxLs0Cv4zY