From the Author
The book is just the beginning...
As co-author of Deep Trouble I wish to thank all the people who've read it and recommend it to their friends and other kayakers they meet. I know many of you have even bought a second or third copy after giving yours away to clueless kayak strangers you've met on paddling trips, ferry rides, etc. Keep spreading the word, and maybe someday we'll have fewer accidents to write about! If you have a story of a learning experience that you are willing to share with other kayakers, please write it up, and email it to me. If reading the book makes you realize that your training/experience/skill-testing hasn't prepared you for what could have happened on trips you've taken, I invite you to come take lessons with me at the Kayak Academy in Seattle, WA USA. Just as this book provides vital information that you won't read in how-to manuals, my school was founded to provide lessons that exceed the industry standards in order to address the kinds of safety problems that occurred to the paddlers in Deep Trouble (as well as many others not yet written about). As the book illustrates, the key to being safe is to stay within your limits, and I'll add to that by saying if your limits are too limited for what you want to do, then you need to increase your skill...take lessons, practice, and find safe ways to test your limits. Thanks, George Gronseth, Founder of the Kayak Academy (Established in 1991)
From the Back Cover
"For many of us a kayak is the means by which we can take in the full measure of the rich coastal environment. But the environment where air, water, and land meet is notoriously variable, and the intimate connection a kayak provides with that environment leaves us exposed and vulnerable to forces that can easily overpower us. . . . Paddlers who invest time and effort and fully engage their senses not only have a greater degree of safety they discover more of the subtle textures of the waterways they travel." from the Preface by Christopher Cunningham
Sea Kayaker's Deep Trouble offers more than twenty harrowing, real-life accounts of sea kayaking accidents that will both keep you on the edge of your seat and instruct you with potentially life-saving lessons. These tales, drawn from Sea Kayaker magazine, are the result of interviews with accident survivors, witnesses, and rescuers. From capsizes and hypothermia to brushes with sharks and entrapment in sea caves, the situations are described in chilling detail and then subjected to expert analysis. Sea Kayaker's Deep Trouble is rounded out by a comprehensive introduction to sea kayaking safety and three dozen sidebars offering tips on equipment, techniques, and improving your skills.
Sea Kayaker magazine reports on accidents and near accidents so its readers might learn from the experience of others rather than having to learn the hard way. Sea Kayaker's Deep Trouble gathers more than twenty of the most compelling and instructive of these reports, outlining the circumstances of each accident and providing detailed analyses: What did the paddlers do wrong? What did they do right? Most importantly, how might the accident have been prevented? With a comprehensive introduction to kayaking safety and three dozen sidebars on gear, skills, and techniques, this book is a must for any sea kayaker who wants to paddle safely.
About the Author
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