Does your breath stink and your students are not saying anything? Have you noticed they are fighting for position to stay upwind of you?

If you are not sure what is going on, it's probably you and Breath Alert Stank Mouth Detector is the fancy gadget tool for you. It uses some sort of scientific method that detects the level of volatile sulfide compounds and hydrocarbon gas that cause bad breath. It takes these levels and rates your breath slinkiness.

And best of all, according to the website, it comes preinstalled with a AAA battery! You can't beat that...

More info: coolest-gadgets.com

Liquidlogic and Legacy Paddlesports have merged, after months of thoughtful discussion among the owners and their retailers and are now headquartered at the Legacy Paddlesports plant in Greensboro, NC.

For those of you out there who own a paddling/guide school, you collect lots of personal information including registrations, waiver/medical forms, payment information, etc. That information really ads up.

It's funny about risk. We spend so much time focusing on being safe while being out on the water. We plan out the day, tell a friend where we are going (hopefully), wear a pfd, and practice rescues. All because we feel that if we didn't then we would be unsafe and that would be risky.

I'm not knocking it at all. Keep doing it. The funny thing is that I often see these same people who spend a lot of time minimize the risks on the water and completely forget about the statistically dangerous risk of just getting to the put-in. Driving there is way more dangerous then your entire day trip.

I'm still amazed at the number of people who don't wear seatbelts. I don't want to sound like your mother but...

You need to read this blog write-up. Novelist Jim Macdonald - who is also a paramedic, wrote a stark grisly piece on why you should wear your seatbelt. Yes, it is graphic.

North Water has a really interesting new product out on the market this year. They have developed a really simple tow tether specifically for recreation boats. It looks like a really simple solution for getting back to the dock of a small lake or towing your kids around.

Here is the description form the site:

This tow tether is built for flat water towing. Attach it to the grab-loop of the towed boat and deck lines within reach of the rescuer. The unique attachment system can be used as a rip-away quick release from both ends. Made from 15' of easy to see, floating 1" webbing and comes in a high visibility reflective bag.

I'm sure that people out there will think that towing should only be done with a safety release towline but we all know that the people paddling in rec. boats will never go out and buy a towline so the industry might as well make something a step up form that horrible yellow braided line that I often see being used...