Re: [Paddlewise] Fwd: whaling rules of the road

Excellent, yes, I do remember that discussion about lights and how
you quoted things right out of the book of rules. I glad you are around, Tom.

Ok, scrath the rules of the road.

A new idea: The Makah are going to get an exclusion zone law which
applies to any vessel engaged in whaling.

If we kayakers engage in whaling, and try to tag (not kill, as we
do not have any quota) the whales with harpoons for scientific study
(guaranteed that we miss all attempts, I do not know of any kayaker
 that is good at throwing harpoons); then the Makah would have to
respect the exclusion zone as well.

The difficult part is to get to the whales before they do.

In reality, what is likely to happen is that the Makah would try
to run over a bunch of kayakers who would be blocking the harbor.
There might be some arrests, and both the Makah and the Coast Guard
would look extremely stupid in front of the media.

What would you folks think if the Mexican police protected the
Nahuac people while they perform ritual human sacrifices to revive
their culture?

It is very sad that the Coast Guard ended up sticking their nose
it this issue by trying to create an exclusion zone law for whaling
to protect the Makah. It is going to lower to the ground their well
earned respect.

- Julio


> 
> This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
> 
> 2) Due to 1) above, we must resort to rule 2 "The Responsibility Rule", also
> known as the rule of good seamanship.  "Nothing in these rules shall exonerate
> any vessel, or the owner, master or crew thereof, from the consequences of any
> neglect to comply with these Rules or of the neglect of any precaution which
> may be required by the ordinary practice of seamen, or by the special
> circumstances of the case."
> 
> If I were in the hotseat in a Coast Guard query, I would interpret this as
> saying both vessels/crews were ultimately responsible for safe shipkeeping of
> their individual vessels. If you were vessels passing in the storm, OK, but if
> there was a history that your highly maneuverable kayak was "playing" in front
> of the ship, well, you decide how the courts would look at that.  Oh, the rule
> of gross tonnage may really come into play with this too....You may never make
> it to the Coast Guard hot seat.
> 
> Tom
> Unlimited Tonnage Any Ocean   
> 

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