Moulton,

I've sent you a message through the forum with my contact at Boat US. If nothing else hopefully he can direct yo to the right person. We had him out sailing while he was in Seattle and I would say he is at least very approachable.

Michael

carl, re point 1, I think Matt is making a distinction between higly skilled/experienced paddlers like Freya and the miriad of new paddlers out there with no skills/experience or knowledge of the sea where probably the chance of misshap is greater than for the skilled/experienced paddler set even taking account of the more 'benign' conditions the beginner set is in.
re point 3, under 30s dont have a fully developed brain to be able to know the consequences of their actions - thats his point. Also you keep saying things like kayaks are tippy cockleshells and such like - the kayak is one of the most seaworthy craft on the water - have you ever been in a smallish motorcruiser or even cruising yacht in bad conditions? I'd rather be in my kayak for sure!

Mark, good to have your input.

Looking back at my Point 1), I asked what Matt's position was on sea kayaking publicity: ignore it? pick-and-choose? I fully understand Matt's distinction between skilled/experienced kayakers and the horde of new paddlers, but his position on the role publicity--good, bad--should have in the thinking of sea kayakers remains unclear to me. I wish he would spell it out.

Re Point 3): I'm not sure what we are to do with Matt's "under-30-brain" thesis. He chose to suggest that somebody (me?) was "trying to shame the more extreme sea kayakers into limiting their freedom", but I'll rise above the urge to suggest that he is in favor of screening under-30s off open water.

Regarding sea kayaks as tippy cockleshells, the average single will kill the disabled (unskilled, exhausted, injured, hypothermic, etc.) paddler caught in rough water, unless rescue is at hand. Under similar conditions, if failing the ability to "jog to weather", I'll gladly lie ahull in that smallish motorcruiser or cruising yacht, hunkered down perhaps in a cabin, and hoping for the best.

I felt the need to jump in tonight when a simple search for the seakayaker magazine website led to a very hateful and lengthy commentary against seakayaker magazine and well respected paddlers. I'm sure everyone already knows the party involved. I was not aware of any of this before tonight, but before researching further, I guessed the person to be either a distraught family member or a salesman. Yes, it turns out Tim sells sponsons through very unorthodox means. I find it very troubling that anyone in this community would go to such viscous lengths to sell a product.

my google search brought up: "Deadly Paddle Float Fraud at Sea Kayaker Magazine. my shock at this front page search result, made me continue to find out how a real kayaker could launch such a loathsome campaign. further searches took took me to this forum. I have come to expect honest personable behavior from everyone I have met in the kayaking community, but still surprised and humbled at the extreme politeness of those who here after such continued personal attacks over several years.

I hope Tim gets the professional help he needs to help find a more positive focus for his anger. I also wish there was way to block searches from rewarding this kind of behavior. I don't see how these actions will help convince a kayaker that this is a company to do business with. In fact it has convinced the very opposite for me. I haven't explored the sponson market, but if interested I assume there are other manufacturers.

Keep up the excellent work at SK magazine, I was searching tonight to upgrade my subscription to include both print and digital versions.
cheers!
dougie