Re: [Paddlewise] Why hate all Jetskiers? (Re: Vote in poll on Jet skis)

Scott Ives wrote:

> Ok guys, get those flame throwers ready! I voted no, because in
> addition to being a faithful kayaker, I also am a part owner of a jet
> ski!  (Gasp!)
>
>  All jet skiers aren't obnoxious.  Yes, a ski makes an annoying whiny
> noise.  But all skiers aren't irresponsible eighteen year old speed
> freaks.  I am 35 and the guy I share the ski with is about 45.  We both
> ski responsibly.  If I am overtaking a canoe, kayak or fisherman, I get
> to the other side of the river and slow down to a crawl as to not make a
> wake or disturb the fish.
>
>   If you want to ban all motors (even those on sailboats), I have no
> problem.  However, many motorboats and even obnoxious sailers fail to
> yield the right of way to paddle craft.  Additionally, many motorboats
> have louder motors than jetskis.  For example, get behind a boat with
> dual 200 hp motors, and tell me what you hear, or behind a REALLY lound
> jet boat!  Heck, even a "normal" motorboat with a 150 hp motor makes
> more noise than a jetski.  A jetski just has a higher, more
> mosquito-type noise.
>

I have to agree here.  Jet skis, just like sailboats, kayaks, bass boats, etc.
are a type of craft. No more, no less.  The fault is not with a craft that does
what it was designed to do very well, it is with the irresponsible way that a
few people use them.  The effort should go into eliminating those that cause
the problem, not the entire group.
I won't even get into what the future can hold once this kind of precedence is
set.

Mike


--
    Paddling along through fog so thick that only one's thoughts are
visible, your reverie is abruptly shattered by the ancient cry of a great
blue heron as she lifts uncertainly from the brilliant blue of a
mussel-shell beach witnessed only by the brooding, wet spruce....your
passage home seems as much back through time as it does through space.
Mark H Hunt


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