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Outside Magazine, July 2005
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The Hard Way
The Calculus of Risk (cont.)

NO WONDER, THEN, that the optimal adventure experience for many enthusiasts is one in which the perceived risk is high but the actual risk is acceptably low. Running rapids is a good example. "People look at big whitewater, and their perception is that it's very dangerous," says Pamela Dillon, executive director of the American Canoe Association. "But the stats tell a different tale. In sheer numbers—including canoeists, kayakers, and rafters—the most common way someone dies boating is in a canoe, on flatwater, with no PFD [personal flotation device], drinking alcohol.

"Fifty percent of people who die in canoes and kayaks are out fishing," Dillon continues. "They're not tuned in to the skills and information they need to participate safely."

Charlie Walbridge, longtime board member of the American Whitewater Safety Committee, has been tracking whitewater accidents for three decades. Like Dillon, he believes a failure to take sensible precautions is responsible for most deaths.

"The number-one reason people get killed on whitewater is because they're not wearing a life jacket," explains Walbridge, who began boating in the 1960s, when everyone made their own fiberglass kayaks and sewed their own spray skirts.

"Today the gear is much better and much safer, and there's so much instruction available that there's really no excuse not to do the basic things right. What's wonderful is that, unless you're doing an exploratory expedition, you get to choose your level of challenge. Almost every adventure sport can now be participated in at a level that's just plain fun."


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