Customer Reviews

Sea Kayaker's Deep Trouble: True Stories and Their Lessons from Sea Kayaker Magazine

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have been teaching sea kayaking courses for 7 years ranging from 3 hour nature tours to 6 day self-contained trips. Teaching on the coast of Northern Califonia has presented me with many challenges and potentially dangerous scenarios. The safety intro in the beginning of this book is simply the most comprehensive I have read or heard from another instructor. It is a great jumping off place for beginners and experts provided they paddle with other experienced individuals. I also co-authored a boating safety instructional manual for California Department of Boating and Waterways and can therefore appreciate the power of word choice. Matt Broze has chosen his words carefully and with precision. The reader should pay close attention and learn all that is presented in the safety intro as well as the 'Tips" in each chapter. I look forward to another book by Broze if he should choose to write one.

I just can't let the first posted review stand alone. This is a book I read twice. Not because it wasn't well written. It was. It is so densely packed with stuff I needed to know that once through was not enough.

The narratives are well crafted: concise, gripping - I felt like I was right there in the cockpit battling the waves, shaking off the salt spray, and bracing for dear life. The savvy sidebars are packed with right-on-the-mark stay/get out of deep trouble pointers...just the antidote for an anxious reader jarred out his complacency by these often harrowing cautionary tales.

The book suceeded in a way I believe the authors intended. It's made me a safer paddler. I make many fewer assumptions that things out there will go well. I prepare for the worst and cut a lot fewer corners. I paddle alone a lot less often. I DRIVE away from a launch site, when conditions look borderline too challenging. The book has improved my judgment, doing the right things at the right time, without my getting wet. As an advanced beginner sea kayaker, I know I am at a high risk interval in my development as a paddler. The authors have recalibrated my margin of safety. It's a good thing. It's a great book.

I have kayaked for almost twenty years, and I read this book twice and will read it again. When paddling in the ocean or sea or Lake Superior, it is all too easy to "cut corners" and this book has served to focus my attention back to the essentials of basic safety. I have lent the book to many experienced paddling friends who are similarly impressed.

Deep trouble recounts the stories and reports of 20 kayaking incidents which range from death (often with sketchy information as you would imagine) to mild hypothermia to extraordinary feats of endurance and survival.

Unfortunately I found a majority of the incidents were the result of either total novices `in over their heads' or total stupidity. Kayaking in shorts and a tee shirt in 10degrees water and 20knot winds with no pfd; the lessons are not hard to learn. Also many of the lessons from each incident were the same, how many times should we read to dress for immersion and wear a pfd?

However, of the 20 cases presented, one or two were noteworthy, others included elements of interest, and some of the comments from the `pros' was useful.

The formatting - which includes simultaneous commentary with the incident report - didn't work for me at all (others report here that they like it, go figure).

I expected more from this book (I have always wanted to read 'Total Loss' the equivalent book about sailing) but it just wasn't aimed at me. The target audience must be novice kayakers who don't wear a pfd; if you are in that audience buy this book.

I have been kayaking for 4 years now and have read several books on sea kayaking, hands down this is the best book out there. Other books are good to serve as guides for where to paddle, but no other book I've come across offers so much. This book should be included in the sale of all kayaks. This book, if read and followed, will end up saving your life some day.

This book is a must-read for every kayaker, not just sea kayakers. These true, white-knuckle accounts drive home the point that the unexpected can and does happen, often with tragic results. It's too bad the kayakers who perished or were on death's doorstep in these stories did not have the benefit of reading this book first. It certainly would have sharpened their judgement and kept them out of harm's way.

I'm a new kayaker and this book was recommended to me by my instructor. Kayaking, I have learned, is a lot more than just getting into a kayak and paddling off. Believe me, this book has guaranteed that I will never be anything less than the most prepared when I get in my boat. Whether it is just a paddle across a small lake or a trip across Lake Superior, YOU CAN'T CUT CORNERS! Even small mistakes (cotton clothing instead of synthetic) can have dire consequences. A must read for anyone planning to paddle.

As an ACA instructor I recommend this book to ALL my students! The real-life stories do a much better job of driving home the NEED for preparation, instruction, and safety than any how-to book. The book is especially helpful for those paddlers who have moved through the beginning stages of sea kayaking and are starting to expand their horizons. The authors do an excellent job of critiqueing the scenarios and giving paddlers concrete options for safety rather than just increasing their fears. Buy it-read it-think about it!

This book shows how a number of relatively minor miscalculations can add up to big trouble. Kayaks are little boats in a big sea, and learning to read the ocean, file a float plan, study or take the time to learn about the area tides, currents, etc. is critical, especially when traveling solo. I learned a lot about what NOT to do when kayaking. I have been sea kayaking for a number of years and have recommended this book to many people starting out in the sport.

I recommend this book to anyone who is active in watersports. It made me aware of the seriousness of some dangers I didn't think much about before (like hypothermia). Some stories have happy endings and some don't. Every story is analyzed to determine what the participants did right and what they might have done differently.
My only criticism is that most of the stories are centered around one particular geographical area (Pacific northwest). I wish there were more stories having to do with different conditions (whitewater rivers, flatwater, etc.) and in other parts of the country so that we non-coastal people could relate more. Still, a fine book.