The Houston Canoe Club
is a Paddlesports Risk Management Club Sign the Waiver HCC
They are so fashionable and good looking! Such an elegant statement! So svelte! We don't tend to have a real emergency need to use helmets around Houston much. But when we go to Hidalgo Falls, or the Pecos or Big Bend, we can run into some more preposterous rapids and falls and encounter obstacles that put a good helmet to good use. And you tend not to know you need a helmet until after you have had a traumatic collision with something. I've fallen from my bike several times, and been mighty grateful for having my helmet on. I have a good friend whose father spent the last 20 years of his life in a nursing home because he fell off a small motorbike and hit his head on the pavement. One minute of carelessness, and it ruined his life. I have been on a trip on the San Marcos, and a fellow paddler ran into a largish branch in a sweeper that left a bruise on his forehead, and a little line of blood at the edge of the bruise. I asked him if he was all right, and he said sure, but he's never come on any more club trips. So even a river as benign as the San Marcos can be darned dangerous. Take a look at the water you want to paddle and think hard about whether you will need a helmet. Be safe out there! See You On The Water! Harmon