Re: [Paddlewise] Not to wear a PFD is a Deadly Choice

R. Walker wrote:
>  any commentary to offer about
> > rental companies?
> 
> Guy walks in: "I wanna rent a kayak."
> Clerk: "Ok, where you headed?"
> Customer: "Just out fishing in Dickinson bay"
> Clerk: "Ok, thats $45, pfd, paddle, boat inclusive."
> ...
> Later that afternoon...
> Customer puts boat in off Galveston Island, and heads offshore, no
> where near the protected waters of Dickinson bay.  So exactly
> what good does the screening process do?
> 
> Richard Walker
> Houston, TX
______________________________________________________________________

Thanks Richard for your comments, you sure make sense to me!
I just now remembered an event when I was 10 years old on vacation
out in White Rock BC. Having rented a small dory for five bucks
my desire for adventure and fun saw me taking my niece and I 
out on the ocean well west from that ocean pier. 
Innocent and naive I rowed out past the break water rocks and soon discovered the power of the ocean
and sensed the surging potential peril of the pounding surface against those rocks. 
I vividly remember laboring on the oars to get that plug of a dory back around and behind into
calmer waters. I remember how glad we were as I made it back. Needless to say I was really scared
when I discovered the size of the waves and the struggle I was having. A first time experience with
the ocean at age ten. Funny how I had forgotten all about that
experience until just now. 
The owner at the boat rental shop found out from a returning fishing
boat and sternly rebuked me when I returned the boat. So I can easily
identify with the vulnerability of a rental shop owner. 
There are always prevailing circumstances which point to the choices the individual makes.
But we were wearing our PFDs' because the owner made us wear them.
Thinking back, I should have been spanked for that one.
As adults we are supposed to know better. If that Galvaston lawyer-kayaker wasn't suiciding himself
he was surely committing stupidity in the first degree.

Thanks again for your post.

regards,

Philip
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